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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 28: Poster Session II

BP 28.10: Poster

Thursday, March 30, 2023, 18:00–20:00, P2/EG

Evolution of the crowded state of cells as seen by FRET — •Avijit Kundu and Mattias Weiss — Experimentalphysik I, Universität Bayreuth, Universitätsstraße 30 95447 Bayreuth

Cells are the basic units of all living organisms. Somewhat surprisingly, however, virtually all cells feature very similar and high degrees of macromolecular crowding, with total concentrations of more than 100 mg/ml, irrespective of the species from which the cell is taken. Macromolecular crowding plays a key role in many biophysical processes and it can even alter biochemical cues by changing the binding kinetics or the steady-state frunction of associated states, suggesting that cells need to actively maintain their crowding state. Using a FRET sensor that reports on the local crowdedness in living cells, we have explored how individual cells can re-adapt their crowding state after a perturbation. Using a stepwise change of the osmotic pressure, we find that cells react rapidly to the external perturbation but aim at a relaxation back to the native state over time scales of minutes to hours.