Abstract: Phase separation has long been observed within aqueous mixtures of two or more different compounds, such as proteins, salts, polysaccharides and synthetic polymers. A growing body of experimental evidence indicates that phase separation also takes place inside living cells, where intrinsically disordered proteins and other molecules such as RNA are thought to assemble into membraneless organelles. These structures represent a new paradigm of intracellular organization and compartmentalization, in which biochemical processes can be coordinated i...
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Topics: 
Chemical physics
Biophysics