March 3, 2025
Keio University
A research group—including Kazuki Yasuda (a second-year student in the Doctoral Programs at the Graduate School of Science and Technology, Keio University), Associate Professor Eishi Yamamoto and Professor Kenji Yasuoka of the university's Faculty of Science and Technology, and Professor Kresten Lindorff-Larsen of the Department of Biology at the University of Copenhagen—has developed a coarse-grained molecular model of RNA and successfully reproduced biomolecular condensates formed by the mixing of proteins and RNA through simulations.
Biomolecules such as proteins and RNA form biomolecular condensates through phase separation, a phenomenon involved in diverse biological processes. In this study, the research group developed a coarse-grained RNA model for use in molecular dynamics simulations, making it possible to simulate protein-RNA condensates, which are implicated in various pathologies. This has led to the elucidation of a novel RNA-involved phase separation mechanism at the molecular level.
The results of this study were published in the American Chemical Society's journal "Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation" on February 26, 2025.
Please see below for the full press release.