Reactive Brownian Dynamics of Chemically Fueled Droplets: Roles of Attraction and Deactivation Modes.

The self-assembly of biological membraneless organelles can be mimicked by active droplets resulting from chemically fueled microphase separation. However, how the nonequilibrium, transient structure of these active droplets can be controlled through the physicochemical input parameters is not yet well understood. In our work, a chemically fueled two-state chemical reaction and subsequent droplet growth and decay are modeled with a reactive Brownian dynamics simulation in two spatial dimensions.

Intramolecular structural heterogeneity altered by long-range contacts in an intrinsically disordered protein.

Short-range interactions and long-range contacts drive the 3D folding of structured proteins. The proteins' structure has a direct impact on their biological function. However, nearly 40% of the eukaryotes proteome is composed of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) and protein regions that fluctuate between ensembles of numerous conformations.