Gene

Cell biology

Bacteria

Biology

Eukaryotic cell

Biochemistry

Intracellular

Genetics

Thermodynamics

Physics

Chemistry

Cell

Biophysics

RNA polymerase

Liquid phase

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Significance Bacterial cells are small and were long thought to have little to no internal structure. However, advances in microscopy have revealed that bacteria do indeed contain subcellular compartments. But how these compartments form has remained a mystery. Recent progress in larger, more complex eukaryotic cells has identified a novel mechanism for intracellular organization known as liquid–liquid phase separation. This process causes certain types of molecules to concentrate within distinct compartments inside the cell. Here, we demonstrate that the same process also occurs in bacteria. This work, together with a growing body of literature, suggests that liquid–liquid phase separation is a common mechanism for intracellular organization in both eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells.

Clusters of bacterial RNA polymerase are biomolecular condensates that assemble through liquid–liquid phase separation