Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Wang, Zheng
• Yang, Chun
• Guan, Dongshi
• Li, Jiaqi
• Zhang, Hong

Titel

Cellular proteins act as surfactants to control the interfacial behavior and function of biological condensates

Ist Teil von

• Developmental cell, 2023-06, Vol.58 (11), p.919-932.e5

Ort / Verlag

United States: Elsevier Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

2023

Quelle

ScienceDirect

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Interfacial tension governs the behaviors and physiological functions of multiple biological condensates during diverse biological processes. Little is known about whether there are cellular surfactant factors that regulate the interfacial tension and functions of biological condensates within physiological environments. TFEB, a master transcription factor that controls expression of autophagic-lysosomal genes, assembles into transcriptional condensates to control the autophagy-lysosome pathway (ALP). Here, we show that interfacial tension modulates the transcriptional activity of TFEB condensates. MLX, MYC, and IPMK act as synergistic surfactants to decrease the interfacial tension and consequent DNA affinity of TFEB condensates. The interfacial tension of TFEB condensates is quantitatively correlated to their DNA affinity and subsequent ALP activity. The interfacial tension and DNA affinity of condensates formed by TAZ-TEAD4 are also regulated by the synergistic surfactant proteins RUNX3 and HOXA4. Our results indicate that the interfacial tension and functions of biological condensates can be controlled by cellular surfactant proteins in human cells. [Display omitted] •Depletion of MLX promotes autophagy and lysosomal biogenesis by activating TFEB•Interfacial tension governs the transcriptional activity of TFEB condensates•Cellular surfactant proteins modulate the interfacial tension of TFEB condensates•Surfactant proteins exhibit synergistic effects in modulating interfacial tension Wang and Yang et al. demonstrate that interfacial tension specifies the DNA affinity and transcriptional activity of TFEB condensates. Cellular proteins act as synergistic surfactants to decrease the interfacial tension of TFEB condensates, thus negatively modulating the transcription of autophagic-lysosomal genes.