MPI Campus Seminar: Controlling protein droplets with chemical reactions

Liquid droplets made of proteins and RNA are part of the internal structure of cells. They can fulfil a variety of tasks like concentrating reactions, store proteins locally or detect environmental changes. Because they require no membrane, formation and dissolution of droplets is very fast. To fulfil their function, cells need to control the formation and dissolution of those droplets.
In this talk I present a theory to explain how chemical reactions can achieve such control. I will show that fast control of formation and dissolution requires external energy and that size control is possible if enzymes localise in droplets. Thus fast and specific control of droplets can be achieved via driven enzymatic reactions, similar to many other biological processes.