Spatial Organization of Phase-Separated DNA Droplets

Interlamellar Organization of Phase Separated Domains in Multi-Component Lipid Multilayers: Energetic Considerations

A recent experimental study [1] has demonstrated the alignment of phase separated domains across hundreds of bilayer units in multicomponent stacked lipid bilayers. The origin of this alignment is the interlamellar coupling of laterally phase separated domains. Here, we develop a theoretical model that presents the energetics description of this phenomenon based on the minimization of the free ...

The Spatial Organization of DNA Virus Genomes in the Nucleus

During lytic infection, DNA viruses that replicate in the nucleus of cells establish an environment that favors viral replication while evading cellular defenses. Consequently, these viruses must engage with cellular factors that are necessary for efficient viral transcription and DNA replication, while disarming restrictive cellular responses to the presence of the invading pathogenic DNA. It ...

Nanostructures from Phase Separated Polymers

Blue-phase liquid crystal droplets.

Blue phases of liquid crystals represent unique ordered states of matter in which arrays of defects are organized into striking patterns. Most studies of blue phases to date have focused on bulk properties. In this work, we present a systematic study of blue phases confined into spherical droplets. It is found that, in addition to the so-called blue phases I and II, several new morphologies ari...

Compositional Control of Phase-Separated Cellular Bodies

Cellular bodies such as P bodies and PML nuclear bodies (PML NBs) appear to be phase-separated liquids organized by multivalent interactions among proteins and RNA molecules. Although many components of various cellular bodies are known, general principles that define body composition are lacking. We modeled cellular bodies using several engineered multivalent proteins and RNA. In vitro and in ...