Regulation of Chemical Processes by Phase Separation

Abstract

Phase-separated liquid condensates can spatially organize and thereby regulate chemical processes. The physicochemical mechanisms underlying such regulation remain elusive as intra-molecular interactions give rise to a coupling between diffusion and chemical reactions at non-dilute conditions. In this seminar, I will first show that the concepts of non-equilibrium thermodynamics can be applied to phase separation in living cells. Moreover, I will derive a theoretical framework that governs the coupling between the phase separation of molecular components and their chemical reactions. When components diffusive fast compared to chemical reactions, a powerful framework can be derived to understand chemical kinetics in non-dilute systems where chemical trajectories can be drawn in thermodynamics phase diagrams. This versatile framework can be applied to various chemical processes in systems biology and biological cells. It can also be used to experimentally quantify how condensed phases alter chemical processes and thus help unravel how biomolecular condensates regulate biochemistry in living cells.