David Kuster
@rnadavid.bsky.social
RNA & Metabolism. Ancient companions for Life. RNA as spatial organizer of the Cell. IDPs, biomolecular condensates and RNA fun @HymanLab. MBL Physiology '25. And birds.
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Reposted by David Kuster
Put simply: high concentrations facilitate reactions because you get more molecular collisions. However, molecules don't move well (or collide) when they are stuck together:
journals.aps.org/pre/abstract...
journals.aps.org/pre/abstract...
Physical limits to acceleration of enzymatic reactions inside phase-separated compartments
We present a theoretical analysis of phase-separated compartments to facilitate enzymatic chemical reactions. While phase separation can facilitate reactions by increasing local concentration, it can ...
journals.aps.org
February 3, 2026 at 8:27 PM
Put simply: high concentrations facilitate reactions because you get more molecular collisions. However, molecules don't move well (or collide) when they are stuck together:
journals.aps.org/pre/abstract...
journals.aps.org/pre/abstract...
This is my favorite biochemical counter-example by the John Gross lab, where rates are enhanced in the condensed phase - but critically due to an altered enzyme conformation:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Biomolecular condensates amplify mRNA decapping by biasing enzyme conformation - Nature Chemical Biology
Alterations in the interactions driving phase separation of the mRNA decapping complex led to conformational rearrangements in its active site, providing a mechanism to control whether substrate mRNA ...
www.nature.com
February 2, 2026 at 4:46 PM
This is my favorite biochemical counter-example by the John Gross lab, where rates are enhanced in the condensed phase - but critically due to an altered enzyme conformation:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
That's likely what has happened in many cases - that retardation/inhibition was interpreted as 'negative, unpublishable result', which is a bit unfortunate since it could just as well have been biologically meaningful.
February 2, 2026 at 4:27 PM
That's likely what has happened in many cases - that retardation/inhibition was interpreted as 'negative, unpublishable result', which is a bit unfortunate since it could just as well have been biologically meaningful.
Also fits well with the cumulative intuition, or experience, from biochemical experiments and the 'publication gap' (with few notable exceptions, i.e. altered enzyme conformation in the condensed phase) for rate-enhancing condensates in the literature.
February 2, 2026 at 3:53 PM
Also fits well with the cumulative intuition, or experience, from biochemical experiments and the 'publication gap' (with few notable exceptions, i.e. altered enzyme conformation in the condensed phase) for rate-enhancing condensates in the literature.