Phase Separation and Infectious Diseases

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

2023

Keywords

Biomolecules, Cellular Process, Immune Response, Immune System, Immunity, Infectious Disease, Intrinsically Disordered Proteins, Liquid–liquid Phase Separation, Membrane-less Organelle, Molecular Structure, Pathological Process, Protein Classification, Proteomics, Structural Classification of Proteins, Virology

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-823967-4.00010-5

Abstract

Infectious diseases continue to represent a major threat to the humankind. This is reiterated by the current COVID-19 pandemic that affected almost 550 million people worldwide and caused more than 6.35 million deaths. It is clear that in addition to the existing preventive measures and treatments for various pathogens, better understanding is needed of the relationship between pathogen infection and the human antiinfection immune response and of the specific mechanisms underlying these complex processes. There is a constant warfare between the hosts and infectious pathogens, where humans have evolved a very effective and broadly amended antiinfection immune system, but, in their turn, pathogens have evolved a multitude of immune escape mechanisms to efficiently oppose it. It is recognized now that liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS) occupies a special place among the important molecular mechanisms of the antiinfection immune response. Some illustrative examples of the roles of LLPS in the antiinfection immune response are considered in this chapter.

Was this content written or created while at USF?

Yes

Citation / Publisher Attribution

Phase Separation and Infectious Diseases, in V. N. Uversky (Ed.), Droplets of Life, Academic Press, p. 681-698

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