Control of Superselectivity by Crowding in Three-Dimensional Hosts

Motivated by the fine compositional control observed in membraneless droplet organelles in cells, we investigate how a sharp binding-unbinding transition can occur between multivalent client molecules and receptors embedded in a porous three-dimensional structure. In contrast to similar superselective binding previously observed at surfaces, we have identified that a key effect in a three-dimensional environment is that the presence of inert crowding agents can significantly enhance or even introduce superselectivity. In essence, molecular crowding initially suppresses binding via an entropic penalty, but the clients can then more easily form many bonds simultaneously. We demonstrate the robustness of the superselective behavior with respect to client valency, linker length, and binding interactions in Monte Carlo simulations of an archetypal lattice polymer model.

Automated summary

The presence of inert crowding agents in a three-dimensional environment can significantly enhance or even introduce superselectivity in client molecule-receptor binding. Molecular crowding initially suppresses binding via an entropic penalty, but clients can then more easily form multiple bonds simultaneously.