SFB1551 Project: R14

Project Title: Pronuclei as a Platform to Study Phase Behavior and Biological Function of Arginine/Glycine-Rich Proteins

Summary: Project R14 establishes biopolymer-based, DNA- and RNA-containing “protonuclei” (PN) compartments with tuneable viscoelastic properties to serve as a nucleus-mimicking platform. This system enables the study of biomolecular assembly and phase separation under cell-like molecular crowding and soft confinement.  Biologically, the platform examines arginine/glycine (RG)-rich proteins, which regulate DNA/RNA processing and are linked to neurodegenerative diseases. Integrating bioinformatics sequence classification, macromolecular polymer chemistry, and biochemistry, the project determines how spatial confinement and crowding matrix dynamics control functional versus pathological biomolecular organisation.