Solving the Mystery of How Cells Organize Themselves | Wiley Analytical Science

How complex order arises from countless moving parts remains one of biology’s deepest puzzles. Inside cells, thousands of molecules zip randomly through crowded environments, yet somehow assemble into organized, functional structures. A new study sheds light on how this happens for one of the cell’s most important components: chromatin.

Scientists from the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) and collaborating institutions present a model explaining how liquid-like cellular droplets—known as condensates—emerge from individual molecular properties. The work focuses on chromatin, the tightly packed combination of DNA and proteins that carries genetic information inside chromosomes.

Understanding condensate formation has long challenged scientists. “Understanding how emergent properties arise in cells – in this case, how liquid droplets called condensates spontaneously form from rapidly moving molecules -- ‘is a really hard problem, especially if we want to connect molecular properties to condensate properties,’” says Michael Rosen, a Whitman Scientist at MBL from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Read rest of the story here.

Source: Solving the Mystery of How Cells Organize Themselves | Wiley Analytical Science