Specific spatial localization of actin and dna in a water/water microdroplet: Self-emergence of a cell-like structure

Abstract

The effect of binary hydrophilic polymers on a pair of representative bio‐macromolecules in a living cell has been examined. The results showed that these bio‐macromolecules exhibited specific localization in cell‐sized droplets that were spontaneously formed through water/water microphase segregation under crowding conditions with coexisting polymers. In these experiments, a simple binary polymer system with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and dextran (DEX) was used. Under the conditions of microphase segregation, DNA was entrapped within cell‐sized droplets rich in DEX. Similarly, F‐actin, linearly polymerized actin, was entrapped specifically within microdroplets rich in DEX, whereas G‐actin, a monomeric actin, was distributed evenly inside and outside these droplets. This study has been extended to a system with both F‐actin and DNA, and it was found that DNA molecules were localized separately from aligned F‐actin proteins to create microdomains inside microdroplets, reflecting the self‐emergence of a cellular morphology similar to a stage of cell division.