Cargando…

Measuring the elasticity of liquid–liquid phase separation droplets with biomembrane force probe

Numerous biomacromolecules undergo liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS) inside living cells and LLPS plays important roles in their functions. The droplets formed by LLPS molecules are complex fluids and their behavior follows fluid mechanics, thus studies on rheological and material properties are...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Sun, Min, Chen, Hui, Ji, Qinghua, Xiao, Jianhui, Hou, Yanzhe, Lou, Jizhong
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Biophysics Reports Editorial Office 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10195813/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37287830
http://dx.doi.org/10.52601/bpr.2022.210038
_version_ 1785044211774521344
author Sun, Min
Chen, Hui
Ji, Qinghua
Xiao, Jianhui
Hou, Yanzhe
Lou, Jizhong
author_facet Sun, Min
Chen, Hui
Ji, Qinghua
Xiao, Jianhui
Hou, Yanzhe
Lou, Jizhong
author_sort Sun, Min
collection PubMed
description Numerous biomacromolecules undergo liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS) inside living cells and LLPS plays important roles in their functions. The droplets formed by LLPS molecules are complex fluids and their behavior follows fluid mechanics, thus studies on rheological and material properties are required to gain full insight into the biophysical mechanism of these droplets. Biophysical force spectroscopy techniques are particularly useful in this aspect. Indeed, atomic force microscopy and optical tweezers have been used to quantify the elasticity and the viscoelasticity of LLPS droplets. The Biomembrane Force Probe (BFP) is a single-molecule technique designed to investigate liquid-like objects and is more suitable to quantify the material properties of LLPS droplets, but its usage on LLPS droplets is not yet described. Here we present an experimental protocol to measure the Young’s modulus of LLPS droplets using BFP, we believe that the application of BFP on phase separation studies can be expanded and will be very helpful in deciphering the underlying principles of LLPS.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-10195813
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher Biophysics Reports Editorial Office
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-101958132023-06-07 Measuring the elasticity of liquid–liquid phase separation droplets with biomembrane force probe Sun, Min Chen, Hui Ji, Qinghua Xiao, Jianhui Hou, Yanzhe Lou, Jizhong Biophys Rep Protocol Numerous biomacromolecules undergo liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS) inside living cells and LLPS plays important roles in their functions. The droplets formed by LLPS molecules are complex fluids and their behavior follows fluid mechanics, thus studies on rheological and material properties are required to gain full insight into the biophysical mechanism of these droplets. Biophysical force spectroscopy techniques are particularly useful in this aspect. Indeed, atomic force microscopy and optical tweezers have been used to quantify the elasticity and the viscoelasticity of LLPS droplets. The Biomembrane Force Probe (BFP) is a single-molecule technique designed to investigate liquid-like objects and is more suitable to quantify the material properties of LLPS droplets, but its usage on LLPS droplets is not yet described. Here we present an experimental protocol to measure the Young’s modulus of LLPS droplets using BFP, we believe that the application of BFP on phase separation studies can be expanded and will be very helpful in deciphering the underlying principles of LLPS. Biophysics Reports Editorial Office 2022-04-30 /pmc/articles/PMC10195813/ /pubmed/37287830 http://dx.doi.org/10.52601/bpr.2022.210038 Text en © The Author(s) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Protocol
Sun, Min
Chen, Hui
Ji, Qinghua
Xiao, Jianhui
Hou, Yanzhe
Lou, Jizhong
Measuring the elasticity of liquid–liquid phase separation droplets with biomembrane force probe
title Measuring the elasticity of liquid–liquid phase separation droplets with biomembrane force probe
title_full Measuring the elasticity of liquid–liquid phase separation droplets with biomembrane force probe
title_fullStr Measuring the elasticity of liquid–liquid phase separation droplets with biomembrane force probe
title_full_unstemmed Measuring the elasticity of liquid–liquid phase separation droplets with biomembrane force probe
title_short Measuring the elasticity of liquid–liquid phase separation droplets with biomembrane force probe
title_sort measuring the elasticity of liquid–liquid phase separation droplets with biomembrane force probe
topic Protocol
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10195813/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37287830
http://dx.doi.org/10.52601/bpr.2022.210038
work_keys_str_mv AT sunmin measuringtheelasticityofliquidliquidphaseseparationdropletswithbiomembraneforceprobe
AT chenhui measuringtheelasticityofliquidliquidphaseseparationdropletswithbiomembraneforceprobe
AT jiqinghua measuringtheelasticityofliquidliquidphaseseparationdropletswithbiomembraneforceprobe
AT xiaojianhui measuringtheelasticityofliquidliquidphaseseparationdropletswithbiomembraneforceprobe
AT houyanzhe measuringtheelasticityofliquidliquidphaseseparationdropletswithbiomembraneforceprobe
AT loujizhong measuringtheelasticityofliquidliquidphaseseparationdropletswithbiomembraneforceprobe