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Updated: Apr 16, 2026

Improving 2D and 3D Skin In Vitro Models Using Macromolecular Crowding
Published on: August 22, 2016
Effects of macromolecular crowding on the collapse of biopolymers
Hongsuk Kang1, Philip A Pincus2, Changbong Hyeon3
1Chemical Physics and Biophysics Program, Institute of Physical Science and Technology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA.
Abstract:
Experiments show that macromolecular crowding modestly reduces the size of intrinsically disordered proteins even at a volume fraction (ϕ) similar to that in the cytosol, whereas DNA undergoes a coil-to-globule transition at very small ϕ. We show using a combination of scaling arguments and simulations that the polymer size R̅(g)(ϕ) depends on x=R̅(g)(0)/D, where D is the ϕ-dependent distance between the crowders. If x≲O(1), there is only a small decrease in R̅(g)(ϕ) as ϕ increases. When x≫O(1), a cooperative coil-to-globule transition is induced. Our theory quantitatively explains a number of experiments.
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