Complex coacervates as artificial membraneless organelles and protocells
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Complex coacervates are water droplets dispersed in water, which are formed by spontaneous liquid–liquid phase separation of an aqueous solution of two oppositely charged polyelectrolytes. Similar to the membraneless organelles that exist in biological cells, complex coacervate droplets are membraneless and have a myriad of features including easy formation, high viscosity, selective encapsulation of biomolecules, and dynamic behaviors in response to environmental stimuli, which make coacervates an excellent option for constructing artificial membraneless organelles. In this article, I first summarize recent advances in artificial compartments that are built from coacervates and their response to changes in the surrounding environment and then show the advantages of microfluidic techniques in the preparation of monodisperse coacervates and encapsulation of coacervates in droplets and liposomes to construct complex cell-like compartments, and finally discuss the future challenges of such membraneless aqueous compartments in cell mimics and origin of life.
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Membrane-less droplets are prone to (accelerated) Ostwald ripening and have no barrier to prevent fusion.
“Indeed membrane-less droplets are prone to (accelerated) Ostwald ripening and have no barrier to prevent fusion”
From Active coacervate droplets are protocells that grow and resist Ostwald ripening (2021) · cites this paper as [40]
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- Authors
- Deng, N.-N.
- Affiliations
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Deng, Nan-Nan
- ORCID
- Deng, Nan-Nan
- Venue
- Biomicrofluidics
- Publisher
- AIP Publishing
- Published
- 2020-09-01
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 051301-051301
- ISSN
- 1932-1058 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7470879
- OpenAlex
- W3081745369
- Cited by
- 40
- References
- 42
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 7
- FWCI
- 2.34
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Biomicrofluidics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University (WF220411020)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
- Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Physical and Theoretical Chemistry › Electrostatics and Colloid Interactions
- Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Organic Chemistry › Supramolecular Chemistry and Complexes
- Keywords
- complex coacervates, biomolecular condensates, protocells, liquid-liquid phase separation, polyelectrolytes, microfluidics, monodisperse droplets, liposomes, cell mimics, origin of life
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