Abstract
Phase-separated condensates participate in various biological activities. Liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS) can be driven by collective interactions between multivalent and intrinsically disordered proteins. The manner in which chromatin—with various morphologies and activities—is organized in a complex and small nucleus still remains to be fully determined. Recent findings support the claim that phase separation is involved in the regulation of chromatin organization and chromosome behavior. Moreover, phase separation also influences key events during mitosis and meiosis. This review elaborately dissects how phase separation regulates chromatin and chromosome organization and controls mitotic and meiotic chromosome behavior.
Highlights
Introduction and Chromosome Behavior duringDuring eukaryotic development, highly ordered cellular activities are controlled by membrane-enclosed organelles, as well as membraneless compartments
The Schizosaccharomyces pombe HP1 protein Swi6 reshapes the nucleosome core, which increases opportunities for multivalent interactions between nucleosomes, thereby promoting phase separation [29]. These findings suggest that heterochromatin-mediated gene silencing may occur, in part, by sequestering compacted chromatin in phase-separated heterochromatin protein 1α (HP1α) droplets
The NDR1-mediated hinge-specific phosphorylation of HP1a facilitates Sgo1 binding to centromeres directly or indirectly [67], which further strengthens the phase separation of chromosomal passenger complex (CPC). These results suggest that the phase separation properties of HP1α and CPC jointly control the formation of heterochromatin around the centromere
Summary
Highly ordered cellular activities are controlled by membrane-enclosed organelles, as well as membraneless compartments. Liquid–liquid phase separation, driven by collective interactions between multivalent and intrinsically disordered proteins, is thought to mediate the formation of membraneless organelles in cells [1]. Biomacromolecules, such as proteins and nucleic acids, can be coalesced by LLPS into liquid-like, membraneless condensates that organize intracellular components into multiple compartments and perform different biological functions [2]. Increasing evidence highlights the involvement of phase separation in regu mammalian oocytes, a liquid-like spindle structural domain facilitates spindle assem-the recen lating chromatin assembly, as well as chromosome behavior. Advances in understanding the regulation of chromatin organization and chromosome behavior through phase separation during mitosis and meiosis
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