{"611751":{"#nid":"611751","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Synthetic Organelle Shows How Tiny Puddle-Organs in our Cells Work","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA couple of sugars, a dash of enzymes, a pinch of salt, a splash of a real common lab chemical, all arranged in watery baths. And researchers had made a synthetic organelle, which they used in a \u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/pubs.acs.org\/doi\/10.1021\/acsami.8b07573\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Enew study\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E to explore some odd cellular biochemistry.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology made the chemical medley in the lab to closely mimic\u0026nbsp;membraneless\u0026nbsp;organelles, mini-organs in cells that are not contained in a membrane but exist as pools of watery solutions, or puddles. And their model demonstrated how, with just a few ingredients, the organelles could carry out fine-tuned biological processes.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe researchers \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/pubs.acs.org\/doi\/10.1021\/acsami.8b07573\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Epublished the results of their study in the journal \u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/pubs.acs.org\/doi\/10.1021\/acsami.8b07573\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EACS Applied Materials \u0026amp; Interfaces\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E \u003C\/strong\u003Efor the September 26, 2018 issue. The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health\u0026rsquo;s National Institute of General Medical Science and by the National Science Foundation.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA quick look at membraneless organelles should aid in understanding the research\u0026rsquo;s significance.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat are membraneless organelles?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOrganelles that are pools of watery solutions and not objects with membranes are a fairly recent discovery. A prime example is the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nucleolus\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Enucleolus\u003C\/a\u003E. It resides inside of the cell\u0026rsquo;s nucleus, which is an organelle that does have a membrane.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn the past, researchers thought the nucleolus disappeared during cell division and reappeared later. In the meantime, researchers have realized that the nucleolus has no membrane and that during cell division it gets diffused the way water bubbles do in vinaigrette dressing that has been shaken up.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;After cell division, the nucleolus comes back together as a single compartment of fluid,\u0026rdquo; said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/faculty\/Shuichi-Takayama\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EShuichi Takayama, the study\u0026rsquo;s principal investigator and a professor in the Wallace E. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMembraneless organelles can be made up of a few different aqueous solutions, each with different solutes like proteins or sugar or RNA or salt. Differences in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chemical_thermodynamics#Chemical_reactions\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Ethermodynamics\u003C\/a\u003E of the solutions, that is, how their molecules bounce around, keep them from merging into a single solution.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EInstead, they \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/phase_separation\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Ephase separate\u003C\/a\u003E the way oil and water do, even after intermingling. But there\u0026rsquo;s no oil in this case.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;They\u0026rsquo;re all waters,\u0026rdquo; Takayama said. \u0026ldquo;They just don\u0026rsquo;t mix with each other because they have different solutes.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat lifelike processes did the synthetic experiment demonstrate?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDuring intermingling, important things happen. The nucleolus, for example, is vital to DNA transcription. But the synthetic set-up, a collection of watery solutions made by the study\u0026rsquo;s first author, Taisuke Kojima, carried out a simpler series of reactions that demonstrated how\u0026nbsp;membraneless organelles could process sugar.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We had three phases of solutions that each held different reactants,\u0026rdquo; Kojima said. \u0026ldquo;It was like a ball with three layers: an outer solution, an intermediate solution, and a core solution. Glucose was in the outer layer; an enzyme,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Glucose_oxidase\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Eglucose oxidase\u003C\/a\u003E, was in the second layer, and\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Horseradish_peroxidase\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Ehorseradish peroxidase\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;was in the core along with a colorimetric substrate that gave us a visible signal when the last reaction we were looking for occurred.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe glucose in the outer layer interfaced with the glucose oxidase in the second layer, which catalyzed the glucose to hydrogen peroxide. It landed in the second layer and interfaced with the horseradish peroxidase in the core layer, which catalyzed the hydrogen peroxide\u0026nbsp;along with the compound that turns colors, which changed the color of the core layer.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;This type of cascading reaction is what one would expect to see membraneless organelles perform,\u0026rdquo; Takayama said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe cascade even transported each reaction product from one compartment to the next, something very typical in biological processes, like organs digesting food or an organelle processing molecules.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat can a surprise discovery teach us?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPart of the reaction took the researchers by surprise, and it resulted in a novel discovery.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;When researchers think about membraneless organelles, we often think that the reactions inside them are more efficient when their enzymes and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sciencing.com\/what-substrate-chemistry-4673739.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Esubstrates\u003C\/a\u003E are in the same compartment,\u0026rdquo; Takayama said. \u0026ldquo;But in our experiments, that actually slowed the reaction down. We said, \u0026lsquo;Whoa, what\u0026rsquo;s going on here?\u0026rsquo;\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;When the substrate is in the same place where the product of the reaction also builds up, the enzyme sometimes gets confused, and that can impede the reaction,\u0026rdquo; said\u0026nbsp;Kojima, who is a postdoctoral researcher in Takayama\u0026rsquo;s lab. \u0026ldquo;I was pretty surprised to see it.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EKojima put the enzymes and substrate into separate solutions, which interfaced but did not merge to a single solution, and the reaction in his synthetic organelle worked efficiently. This showed how unexpected subtleties may be fine-tuning organelle chemistry.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;It was a Goldilocks regime, not too much contact between substrate and enzyme, not too little, just right,\u0026rdquo; Takayama said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Sometimes, in a cell, a substrate is not abundant and may need to be concentrated in its own little compartment and then brought into contact with the enzyme,\u0026rdquo; Takayama said. \u0026ldquo;By contrast, some substrates can be very abundant in the nucleus, and it might be important to partition them off from enzymes to get just enough contact for the right kind of reaction.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cem\u003ELike this article?\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.rh.gatech.edu\/subscribe\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EGet our email newsletter here.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cem\u003EAlso read: \u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.rh.gatech.edu\/news\/611058\/buzzing-cancer-drugs-malignancies-brain\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EBuzzing Cancer Drugs into Malignancies in the Brain\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThe research was funded by the National Institutes of Health\u0026rsquo;s National Institute of General Medical Science (grant R01 GM12351) and by the National Science Foundation (grant CBET 0939511). Findings, opinions, and conclusions are those of the authors and not necessarily of the NIH.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter \u0026amp;\u0026nbsp;Media Representative\u003C\/strong\u003E: Ben Brumfield (404-660-1408), ben.brumfield@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n177 North Avenue\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nAtlanta, Georgia \u0026nbsp;30332-0181 \u0026nbsp;USA\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EImagine your liver being\u0026nbsp;just a big puddle. Some organelles in your cells are exactly that including prominent ones like the nucleolus. Now a synthetic organelle engineered in the lab shows how such puddle organs can carry out complex life-sustaining reaction chains.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Just tiny puddles. That\u0027s what some of our cells\u0027 organelles are, and this synthetic organelle, engineered in the lab, shows how they can work."}],"uid":"31759","created_gmt":"2018-09-20 18:12:13","changed_gmt":"2018-09-27 13:55:23","author":"Ben Brumfield","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2018-09-20T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2018-09-20T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"611737":{"id":"611737","type":"image","title":"synthetic membraneless organelle phase separation","body":null,"created":"1537463201","gmt_created":"2018-09-20 17:06:41","changed":"1537464312","gmt_changed":"2018-09-20 17:25:12","alt":"","file":{"fid":"232884","name":"Sm.Water_.phases.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Sm.Water_.phases.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Sm.Water_.phases.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1814788,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Sm.Water_.phases.jpg?itok=a1AsqnGS"}},"611735":{"id":"611735","type":"image","title":"Synthetic organelle ASC Applied Materials \u0026 Interfaces cover art","body":null,"created":"1537462668","gmt_created":"2018-09-20 16:57:48","changed":"1537471089","gmt_changed":"2018-09-20 19:18:09","alt":"","file":{"fid":"232883","name":"organelle cover art.big_.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/organelle%20cover%20art.big_.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/organelle%20cover%20art.big_.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1523863,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/organelle%20cover%20art.big_.jpg?itok=Z6uMcDxV"}},"611740":{"id":"611740","type":"image","title":"Takayama and Kojima","body":null,"created":"1537464598","gmt_created":"2018-09-20 17:29:58","changed":"1537464598","gmt_changed":"2018-09-20 17:29:58","alt":"","file":{"fid":"232885","name":"Sm.Shu_.Tai_.lab_.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Sm.Shu_.Tai_.lab_.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Sm.Shu_.Tai_.lab_.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3040015,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Sm.Shu_.Tai_.lab_.jpg?itok=dfWGVRgU"}},"611742":{"id":"611742","type":"image","title":"Nucleolus is membraneless organelle","body":null,"created":"1537465066","gmt_created":"2018-09-20 17:37:46","changed":"1537465066","gmt_changed":"2018-09-20 17:37:46","alt":"","file":{"fid":"232887","name":"OSC_Microbio_03_04_eukcell.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/OSC_Microbio_03_04_eukcell.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/OSC_Microbio_03_04_eukcell.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1068773,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/OSC_Microbio_03_04_eukcell.jpg?itok=-YPtQrmc"}},"611743":{"id":"611743","type":"image","title":"Nucleolus membraneless organelle once mysterious","body":null,"created":"1537465353","gmt_created":"2018-09-20 17:42:33","changed":"1537465386","gmt_changed":"2018-09-20 17:43:06","alt":"","file":{"fid":"232888","name":"OSC_Microbio_03_04_Nucleolus.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/OSC_Microbio_03_04_Nucleolus.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/OSC_Microbio_03_04_Nucleolus.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":436348,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/OSC_Microbio_03_04_Nucleolus.jpg?itok=BOOv_86p"}},"611744":{"id":"611744","type":"image","title":"Professor Shu Takayama Coulter BME","body":null,"created":"1537465570","gmt_created":"2018-09-20 17:46:10","changed":"1537465570","gmt_changed":"2018-09-20 17:46:10","alt":"","file":{"fid":"232889","name":"Sm.Shu_.Takayama.portrait.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Sm.Shu_.Takayama.portrait.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Sm.Shu_.Takayama.portrait.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3297025,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Sm.Shu_.Takayama.portrait.jpg?itok=fIj6eMyV"}},"611745":{"id":"611745","type":"image","title":"Taisuke Kojima","body":null,"created":"1537465706","gmt_created":"2018-09-20 17:48:26","changed":"1537465706","gmt_changed":"2018-09-20 17:48:26","alt":"","file":{"fid":"232890","name":"Sm.Tai_.Kojima.portrait.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Sm.Tai_.Kojima.portrait.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Sm.Tai_.Kojima.portrait.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2990501,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Sm.Tai_.Kojima.portrait.jpg?itok=2KLljBqM"}}},"media_ids":["611737","611735","611740","611742","611743","611744","611745"],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"141","name":"Chemistry and Chemical Engineering"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"}],"keywords":[{"id":"179154","name":"membraneless organelle"},{"id":"179155","name":"nucleolus"},{"id":"179156","name":"cascading reactions"},{"id":"179157","name":"coacervate"},{"id":"8264","name":"metabolism"},{"id":"6898","name":"polyethylene glycol"},{"id":"179158","name":"dextran"},{"id":"173407","name":"phase separation"},{"id":"179159","name":"chemical thermodynamics"},{"id":"179160","name":"DNA transcription"},{"id":"179161","name":"colorimetric substrate"},{"id":"179162","name":"glucose oxidase"},{"id":"179163","name":"horseradish peroxidase"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71891","name":"Health and Medicine"},{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":["ben.brumfield@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}