Macromolecular crowding: Sensing without a sensor

Liam Holt (1) , Morgan Delarue (2)

1 NYU Grossman School of Medicine - New York University School of Medicine
2 LAAS-MILE - Équipe Micro-Nanofluidique pour les sciences de la vie et de l’environnement

All living cells are crowded with macromolecules. Crowding can directly modulate biochemical reactions to various degrees depending on the sizes, shapes, and binding affinities of the reactants. Here, we explore the possibility that cells can sense and adapt to changes in crowding through the widespread modulation of biochemical reactions without the need for a dedicated sensor. Additionally, we explore phase separation as a general physicochemical response to changes in crowding, and a mechanism to both transduce information and physically restore crowding homeostasis.

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]

Liam Holt, Morgan Delarue. Macromolecular crowding: Sensing without a sensor. Current Opinion in Cell Biology, 2023, 85, pp.102269. ⟨10.1016/j.ceb.2023.102269⟩. ⟨hal-04270738⟩