MBI Weekly Seminar

Emerging evidence indicates that liquid-liquid phase separation, the formation of a condensed molecular assembly within another diluted aqueous solution, is a means for cells to organize highly condensed biological assemblies with broad functions and regulatory properties in different subcellular regions. Molecular machineries dictating synaptic transmissions in both presynaptic boutons and postsynaptic densities of neuronal synapses are such biological condensates. In this talk, I will present our recent work showing how phase separation can build dense synaptic molecular clusters, highlight unique features of such condensed clusters in the context of synapse formation and plasticity, and discuss how aberrant phase-separation-mediated synaptic assembly formation may contribute to dysfunctional signaling in psychiatric disorders.