Myosin-Driven Molecular Movements Unlock New Insights into Cellular Condensation.

Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis and Duke University have uncovered fresh insights into how directed movements of molecules within cells contribute to the formation and regulation of biomolecular condensates—specialized communities of DNA, RNA, and proteins that concentrate molecules at specific cellular locations.

Protein condensation occurs when concentrations surpass a critical saturation point. According to Rohit Pappu, a biomedical engineering professor at Washington University, directed movement of molecules facilitates local supersaturation, effectively driving this condensation process.

The research builds on a 2019 discovery by Duke’s Lucia Strader, who showed that in aging plant cells, transcription factors linked to the hormone auxin relocate from the nucleus to cytoplasmic condensates, effectively reducing auxin’s growth-promoting activity. Now, the combined efforts of Pappu and Strader’s labs demonstrate that molecular motility, powered by myosin motors along actin filaments, actively maintains these condensates. Disrupting actin impairs condensation, while its movement promotes it.

Myosins are ATP-driven motor proteins that interact with the cell’s structural actin network, which serves as a scaffold for intracellular transport. This actin-mediated transport enhances condensation, revealing a dynamic link between molecular trafficking and condensate stability.

Their findings extend beyond plant biology, with implications for how cells across different organisms regulate protein condensation. The team plans to explore how various condensation modes affect root development and to investigate the influence of motility on condensation in long cells like neurons, which may impact neurotransmission and neurodegenerative diseases.

This interdisciplinary study highlights that intracellular motility not only determines molecular localization but also directly influences whether proteins aggregate into functional condensates, a principle that could be widespread in biology.

Source:https://phys.org/news/2025-05-myosin-cell.html

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