Abstract
Biomolecular condensates concentrate macromolecules into foci without a surrounding membrane. Many condensates appear to form through multivalent interactions that drive liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS). LLPS increases the specific activity of actin regulatory proteins toward actin assembly by the Arp2/3 complex. We show that this increase occurs because LLPS of the Nephrin–Nck–N-WASP signaling pathway on lipid bilayers increases membrane dwell time of N-WASP and Arp2/3 complex, consequently increasing actin assembly. Dwell time varies with relative stoichiometry of the signaling proteins in the phase-separated clusters, rendering N-WASP and Arp2/3 activity stoichiometry dependent. This mechanism of controlling protein activity is enabled by the stoichiometrically undefined nature of biomolecular condensates. Such regulation should be a general feature of signaling systems that assemble through multivalent interactions and drive nonequilibrium outputs.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1093-1097 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Science |
Volume | 363 |
Issue number | 6431 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2019 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General