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Published 4 December 2006. doi:10.1083/jcb.200609066
The Rockefeller University Press, 0021-9525 $8.00
JCB, Volume 175, Number 5, 681-686
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Mini-Review

The depletion attraction: an underappreciated force driving cellular organization



Davide Marenduzzo1, Kieran Finan2, and Peter R. Cook2

1 School of Physics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, Scotland, UK
2 Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3RE, England, UK

Correspondence to Peter R. Cook: peter.cook{at}path.ox.ac.uk

Cellular structures are shaped by hydrogen and ionic bonds, plus van der Waals and hydrophobic forces. In cells crowded with macromolecules, a little-known and distinct force—the "depletion attraction"—also acts. We review evidence that this force assists in the assembly of a wide range of cellular structures, ranging from the cytoskeleton to chromatin loops and whole chromosomes.

D. Marenduzzo and K. Finan contributed equally to this paper.

Abbreviations used in this paper: AO, Asakura–Oosawa; NOR, nucleolar organizing region; PEG, polyethyleneglycol.


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