Controlling biological droplets with chemical reactions

Phase separation has recently emerged as an important concept to understand the spatial organization of biological matter. In this talk, I will demonstrate that such biological droplets can be controlled by non-equilibrium chemical reactions that affect the droplet material. Such chemical reactions generate compositional fluxes, which control droplet sizes, counteract the effects of surface tension, and can position solid-like particles inside the droplet. I thus show that combining phase separation of proteins with post-translational modifications provides cells with a toolset to build and control compartments without membranes.