Biomolecular Condensates in Bacteria

Bacteria use membraneless compartments, or biomolecular condensates, to organize cellular processes in space and time. These condensates assemble and function within a highly constrained physical landscape shaped by a crowded cytoplasm, structured nucleoid, membrane surfaces, and distinct polar zones. In this review, we examine condensates involved in genome maintenance, RNA metabolism, cell division, signaling, and metabolic regulation, focusing on how cellular microenvironments and physiological state shape when and where these condensates form, which molecules they recruit, and the material states they adopt. In turn, condensates can concentrate molecules for biochemical reactions, sequester them for storage or protection, release or redistribute them as conditions change, and position them at specific cellular sites. Disentangling the contribution of the condensed state from that of the underlying molecular interactions will be essential for determining how condensates regulate bacterial physiology.