Role of electrostatics and phase separation in regulation of gene expression in Escherichia Coli

Intracellular physical organization and transport of biomolecules have been shown to play a key role in a wide range of cellular functions of biological cells. The spatial organization and temporal regulation of biomolecules are essential for regulating gene expression, cellular signaling, cell division, biochemical reactions, stress response, etc. One of the predominant modes of spatial organization of biomolecules inside biological cells is liquid-liquid phase separation. Though we have knowledge of many mechanisms that regulate the phase separation of biomolecules inside the cells such as multivalent interactions, hydrogen bonding, and electrostatic interactions, the exact function of many of the biomolecular condensates remains largely unknown. In this study, we explore the role of nucleoprotein phase separation on the dynamics of mRNA translation by the ribosomal machinery. We first probe the effect of cell growth-mediated stoichiometry on the nucleoprotein phase separation in Escherichia Coli. We further investigate the temporal evolution of the phase properties of these biomolecular condensates. Finally, we investigate the effect of this phase separation on the elongation dynamics of mRNA translation where we observe the competing effects of transport and sequestration regulate the elongation rate.