Searching across hundreds of databases

Our searching services are busy right now. Your search will reload in five seconds.

X
Forgot Password

If you have forgotten your password you can enter your email here and get a temporary password sent to your email.

X
Forgot Password

If you have forgotten your password you can enter your email here and get a temporary password sent to your email.

A first order phase transition mechanism underlies protein aggregation in mammalian cells.

eLife | 2019

The formation of misfolded protein aggregates is a hallmark of neurodegenerative diseases. The aggregate formation process exhibits an initial lag phase when precursor clusters spontaneously assemble. However, most experimental assays are blind to this lag phase. We develop a quantitative assay based on super-resolution imaging in fixed cells and light sheet imaging of living cells to study the early steps of aggregation in mammalian cells. We find that even under normal growth conditions mammalian cells have precursor clusters. The cluster size distribution is precisely that expected for a so-called super-saturated system in first order phase transition. This means there exists a nucleation barrier, and a critical size above which clusters grow and mature. Homeostasis is maintained through a Szilard model entailing the preferential clearance of super-critical clusters. We uncover a role for a putative chaperone (RuvBL) in this disassembly of large clusters. The results indicate early aggregates behave like condensates.

Pubmed ID: 30716021 RIS Download

Antibodies used in this publication

None found

Associated grants

  • Agency: NCI NIH HHS, United States
    Id: DP2 CA195769
  • Agency: NIH HHS, United States
    Id: DP2CA195769

Publication data is provided by the National Library of Medicine ® and PubMed ®. Data is retrieved from PubMed ® on a weekly schedule. For terms and conditions see the National Library of Medicine Terms and Conditions.

This is a list of tools and resources that we have found mentioned in this publication.


ATCC (tool)

RRID:SCR_001672

Global nonprofit biological resource center (BRC) and research organization that provides biological products, technical services and educational programs to private industry, government and academic organizations. Its mission is to acquire, authenticate, preserve, develop and distribute biological materials, information, technology, intellectual property and standards for the advancement and application of scientific knowledge. The primary purpose of ATCC is to use its resources and experience as a BRC to become the world leader in standard biological reference materials management, intellectual property resource management and translational research as applied to biomaterial development, standardization and certification. ATCC characterizes cell lines, bacteria, viruses, fungi and protozoa, as well as develops and evaluates assays and techniques for validating research resources and preserving and distributing biological materials to the public and private sector research communities.

View all literature mentions

Addgene (tool)

RRID:SCR_002037

Non-profit plasmid repository dedicated to helping scientists around the world share high-quality plasmids. Facilitates archiving and distributing DNA-based research reagents and associated data to scientists worldwide. Repository contains over 65,000 plasmids, including special collections on CRISPR, fluorescent proteins, and ready-to-use viral preparations. There is no cost for scientists to deposit plasmids, which saves time and money associated with shipping plasmids themselves. All plasmids are fully sequenced for validation and sequencing data is openly available. We handle the appropriate Material Transfer Agreements (MTA) with institutions, facilitating open exchange and offering intellectual property and liability protection for depositing scientists. Furthermore, we curate free educational resources for the scientific community including a blog, eBooks, video protocols, and detailed molecular biology resources.

View all literature mentions

Thermo Fisher Scientific (tool)

RRID:SCR_008452

Commercial vendor and service provider of laboratory reagents and antibodies. Supplier of scientific instrumentation, reagents and consumables, and software services.

View all literature mentions

Neuro-2a (cell line)

RRID:CVCL_0470

Cell line Neuro-2a is a Cancer cell line with a species of origin Mus musculus

View all literature mentions

MCF-10A (cell line)

RRID:CVCL_0598

Cell line MCF-10A is a Spontaneously immortalized cell line with a species of origin Homo sapiens

View all literature mentions