Diffusive lensing as a mechanism of intracellular transport and compartmentalization

Author:

Raja Venkatesh Achuthan12,Le Kathy H.1ORCID,Weld David M.3ORCID,Brandman Onn1ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA

2. Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Mohali, Punjab, India

3. Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA

Abstract

While inhomogeneous viscosity has been identified as a ubiquitous feature of the cellular interior, its implications for particle mobility and concentration at different length scales remain largely unexplored. In this work, we use agent-based simulations of diffusion to investigate how heterogenous viscosity affects movement and concentration of diffusing particles. We propose that a nonequilibrium mode of membraneless compartmentalization arising from the convergence of diffusive trajectories into viscous sinks, which we call “diffusive lensing,” can occur in a wide parameter space and is thus likely to be ubiquitous in living systems. Our work highlights the phenomenon of diffusive lensing as a potentially key driver of mesoscale dynamics in the cytoplasm, with possible far-reaching implications for biochemical processes.

Publisher

eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd

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