Dresden 2026 – scientific programme
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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik
CPP 18: Active Matter III (joint session BP/CPP/DY)
CPP 18.10: Talk
Tuesday, March 10, 2026, 12:00–12:15, BAR/SCHÖ
Spatial self-organization of enzymes in complex reaction networks — •Vincent Ouazan-Reboul1,2, Ramin Golestanian2,3, and Jaime Agudo-Canalejo2,4 — 1LPTMS, CNRS, Université Paris-Sud, 91400, Orsay, France — 2Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Am Fassberg 17, D-37077, Göttingen, Germany — 3Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Oxford, OX1 3PU, Oxford, UK — 4Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, WC1E 6BT, London, UK
Living systems contain intricate biochemical networks whose structure is closely related to their function and allows them to exhibit robust behavior in the presence of external stimuli. Such networks typically involve catalytic enzymes, which can have non-trivial transport properties, in particular chemotaxis-like directed motion along gradients of substrates and products. Here, we find that taking into account enzyme chemotaxis in models of catalyzed reaction networks can lead to their spatial self-organization in a process similar to biomolecular condensate formation. We develop a general theory for arbitrary reaction networks, and systematically study all closed unimolecular reaction networks involving up to six chemicals. Importantly, we find that network-wide propagation of concentration perturbations can be key to enabling self-organization, in a manner which is highly sensitive on the global network structure.
Keywords: Chemical activity; Self-organization; Non-reciprocal interactions; Complex networks