AI Article Synopsis

  • The study examines how the crowded and viscous nature of prokaryotic cells affects enzymatic reactions, particularly transcription and translation rates.
  • By using a porous hydrogel matrix to simulate the cellular environment, researchers observe significant enhancements in gene expression, with transcription increasing by up to fivefold and translation by up to fourfold.
  • These findings underscore the importance of considering factors like macromolecular crowding and spatial organization when studying biochemical processes in vitro.

Article Abstract

In highly crowded and viscous intracellular environments, the kinetics of complex enzymatic reactions are determined by both reaction and diffusion rates. However in vitro studies on transcription and translation often fail to take into account the density of the prokaryotic cytoplasm. Here we mimic the cellular environment by using a porous hydrogel matrix, to study the effects of macromolecular crowding on gene expression. We found that within microgels gene expression is localized, transcription is enhanced up to fivefold, and translation is enhanced up to fourfold. Our results highlight the need to consider the role of the physical environment on complex biochemical reactions, in this case macromolecular crowding, nanoscale spatial organization, and confinement.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cbic.201500560DOI Listing

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