The concept of liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) has emerged as an intriguing mechanism for the organization of membraneless compartments in cells. The alcohol 1,6-hexanediol is widely used as a control to dissolve LLPS assemblies in phase separation studies in diverse fields. However, little is known about potential side effects of 1,6-hexanediol, which could compromise data interpretation and mislead the scientific debate. To examine this issue, we analyzed the effect of 1,6-hexanediol on the activities of various enzymes in vitro. Already at 1% volume concentration, 1,6-hexanediol strongly impaired kinases and phosphatases and partly blocked DNA polymerases, while it had no effect on DNase activity. At concentrations that are usually used to dissolve LLPS droplets (5-10%), both kinases and phosphatases were virtually inactive. Given the widespread function of protein phosphorylation in cells, our data argue for a careful review of 1,6-hexanediol in phase separation studies.

中文翻译：

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1,6-己二醇，通常用于溶解液-液相分离的冷凝液，直接损害激酶和磷酸酶的活性。

液相-液相分离（LLPS）的概念已成为组织细胞中无膜隔室的一种有趣机制。在各个领域的相分离研究中，醇1,6-己二醇被广泛用作溶解LLPS组合物的对照。然而，关于1，6-己二醇的潜在副作用知之甚少，这可能会损害数据解释并误导科学辩论。为了研究这个问题，我们分析了1，6-己二醇对体外各种酶活性的影响。1,6-己二醇的浓度已经达到1％，已严重损害了激酶和磷酸酶并部分阻断了DNA聚合酶，而对DNase活性没有影响。在通常用于溶解LLPS小滴的浓度（5-10％）下，激酶和磷酸酶实际上都没有活性。