To make the organelles, Goods group engineered yeast (and later human cells) to produce a fine-tuned variation of a protein from the worm C. elegans that would spontaneously coalesce to form beads, or condensates, in the cell cytoplasm. Turning the SwitchTo reversibly sequester and launch chosen freight proteins, researchers engineer cells to produce a scaffold protein that forms condensates, or membraneless organelles, in the cell cytoplasm (panel 1). Illuminating the cell caused the photocleavable protein to break down and the freight protein to be released into the cytoplasm, restarting cell habits (panel 3). Tagging Cdc5, a protein required for cell department, so it would be taken up into the organelles stopped cells from proliferating. Slightly heating the cells to break down the weak interactions in between the condensate proteins and the tags caused the freight to be released, restarting cell habits.
Turning the SwitchTo reversibly sequester and launch picked cargo proteins, scientists engineer cells to produce a scaffold protein that forms condensates, or membraneless organelles, in the cell cytoplasm (panel 1). Illuminating the cell triggered the photocleavable protein to break down and the cargo protein to be released into the cytoplasm, rebooting cell habits (panel 3). Slightly warming the cells to break down the weak interactions between the condensate proteins and the tags triggered the cargo to be released, restarting cell behavior.
