Dynamic biomolecular condensates formed by liquid鈥搇iquid
phase separation can regulate the spatial and temporal organization
of proteins, thus modulating their functional activity in cells. Previous
studies showed that the cell division protein FtsZ from Escherichia coli formed dynamic phase-separated condensates
with nucleoprotein complexes containing the FtsZ spatial regulator
SlmA under crowding conditions, with potential implications for condensate-mediated
spatiotemporal control of FtsZ activity in cell division. In the present
study, we assessed formation of these condensates in the presence
of lipid surfaces and glutamate ions to better approximate the E. coli intracellular environment. We found that
potassium glutamate substantially promoted the formation of FtsZ-containing
condensates when compared to potassium chloride in crowded solutions.
These condensates accumulated on supported lipid bilayers and eventually
fused, resulting in a time-dependent increase in the droplet size.
Moreover, the accumulated condensates were dynamic, capturing protein
from the external phase. FtsZ partitioned into the condensates at
the lipid surface only in its guanosine diphosphate (GDP) form, regardless
of whether it came from FtsZ polymer disassembly upon guanosine triphosphate
(GTP) exhaustion. These results provide insights into the behavior
of these GTP-responsive condensates in minimal membrane systems, which
suggest how these membraneless assemblies may tune critical bacterial
division events during the cell cycle.
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