ReviewGenes & development2019
Evaluating phase separation in live cells: diagnosis, caveats, and functional consequences.
Review in Genes & development, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 387 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
387 citing papers in PubMed.
- How do low-complexity domain interactions control transcription?Biochemical Society transactions · 2026Review
- Dynamics of bicoid mRNA localisation and translation dictate morphogen gradient formation.The EMBO journal · 2026Article
- A transcription factor by any other name - function beyond DNA binding and transactivation.EMBO reports · 2026Review
- ATRX Condensates as Candidate Organizers of Enhancer-Centered Nuclear Microenvironments in Neural Progenitors: A Hypothesis for Enhancer-Associated ATRX Function in Neural Progenitors.BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology · 2026Review
- Pediatric sarcomas: challenges and opportunities.Genes & development · 2026Review
- Current Challenges of Transcription Compartmentalization Research.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Review
- Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation (LLPS) in Tumor Biology: Special Focus on the Process of Transcription.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Capillary bundling of microtubules by condensates.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- The Maximum Growth Temperature for Eukaryotes Is Thermodynamically Driven but Ecologically Contingent.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Simulation of transcription factor clustering in nuclei from molecular kinetics.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Twenty-five years of photobodies: formation, composition, and the 2-compartment logic of phytochrome B signaling.Plant physiology · 2026Review
- Oncolytic virus hijacks GOT1 and pyrimidinosomes to fuel pyrimidine synthesis for replication in tumor cells.Tumour virus research · 2026Article
- The Polymers of Life: Exploring Cellular Function Through Polymer Concepts.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Review
- Unstructured transcription factor interactions enable emergent specificity.Science (New York, N.Y.) · 2026Article
- IDRs lead the way: Cooperativity between intrinsically disordered regions and structured interaction domains drives enrichment in transcription condensates.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Review
- Identifying Subcellular Structure Components in Escherichia Coli by Crosslinking and SEC-MS.Proteomics · 2026Article
- Investigating Phase Separation in Genome Folding via Multiscale Computational Modeling.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Review
- FUS and TAF15 safeguard the critical functions of the ribonucleoprotein network formed by EWSR1 and newly synthesized RNA.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Liquid-liquid phase separation in neural development.Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS · 2026Review
327 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The idea that liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) may be a general mechanism by which molecules in the complex cellular milieu may self-organize has generated much excitement and fervor in the cell biology community. While this concept is not new, its rise to preeminence has resulted in renewed interest in the mechanisms that shape and drive diverse cellular self-assembly processes from gene expression to cell division to stress responses. In vitro biochemical data have been instrumental in deriving some of the fundamental principles and molecular grammar by which biological molecules may phase separate, and the molecular basis of these interactions. Definitive evidence is lacking as to whether the same principles apply in the physiological environment inside living cells. In this Perspective, we analyze the evidence supporting phase separation in vivo across multiple cellular processes. We find that the evidence for in vivo LLPS is often phenomenological and inadequate to discriminate between phase separation and other possible mechanisms. Moreover, the causal relationship and functional consequences of LLPS in vivo are even more elusive. We underscore the importance of performing quantitative measurements on proteins in their endogenous state and physiological abundance, as well as make recommendations for experiments that may yield more conclusive results.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.