Fungi use shape-shifting droplets inside cells to manage stress and growth
Blackburn EE, Lin X
Fungal Biology
The mold on your compost pile, the mushrooms fruiting in your mulch, and the fungi in your garden soil all rely on these droplet compartments to survive heat, drought, and starvation.
Inside fungal cells, some proteins and other molecules clump together into liquid-like droplets, much like oil beads in water. These droplets gather the right ingredients in one spot so the cell can react quickly to stress or change shape as it grows. Scientists have found more and more examples in fungi, but proving the droplets do the same job in living cells as they do in a test tube is still difficult.
Key Findings
Liquid-liquid phase separation forms membrane-free biomolecular condensates, a process conserved across eukaryotes including fungi.
Condensates in fungi have been linked to stress response, morphogenesis, and regulation of cellular programs, with evidence growing over the past two decades.
A major open challenge is connecting in vitro condensate behavior to their regulatory functions in living fungal cells.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Fungal cells organize their insides with tiny droplet-like compartments that form and dissolve on demand, helping them handle stress and change shape. This review pulls together two decades of evidence and flags how hard it is to confirm that lab findings hold up inside living fungi.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Biomolecular condensates in fungi: mechanisms and regulatory roles.
SUMMARYLiquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) drives the formation of biomolecular condensates, a conserved phenomenon across eukaryotes. This process governs diverse cellular programs, from stress ...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
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