ArticleNature communications2021
Non-associative phase separation in an evaporating droplet as a model for prebiotic compartmentalization.
Article in Nature communications, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers.
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 79 citations in OpenAlex.
- Programmable Multiphasic Condensates Formed via Evaporation-Induced Phase Separation of Minimal Peptide Model.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2026Article
- Hydroxy acid conjugation to lipids increases structural and hydrolytic stability.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Associative Phase Separation in Single-Step Polyelectrolyte Complex Coatings.Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids · 2026Article
- Biofilms: from the cradle of life to life support.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2026Review
- All-Aqueous Phase Segregation Integrated Electrochemical Aptamer Biosensor Enables Picomolar Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein.Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2025Article
- A Molecular Recruitment Colocalization Platform for Visualizing Multi-Protein Interactions and Engineering Biomolecular Condensates in Living Cells.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- Mellitic Acid as a Stable Abiotic Precursor for Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation: An RNA-Independent Pathway for Prebiotic Compartmentalization.Chemistry (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2025Article
- Tailoring Peptide Coacervates for Advanced Biotechnological Applications: Enhancing Control, Encapsulation, and Antioxidant Properties.ACS applied materials & interfaces · 2025Article
- A low-cost picowatt calorimeter using a flexible printed circuit board.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Thermophilic Behavior of Heat-Dissociative Coacervate Droplets.Nano letters · 2024Article
- In situ formation of biomolecular condensates as intracellular drug reservoirs for augmenting chemotherapy.Nature biomedical engineering · 2024Article
- Diffusiophoresis promotes phase separation and transport of biomolecular condensates.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Thermo-responsive aqueous two-phase system for two-level compartmentalization.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Diffusiophoresis promotes phase separation and transport of biomolecular condensates.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Multicompartmental coacervate-based protocell by spontaneous droplet evaporation.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Internal flow in sessile droplets induced by substrate oscillation: towards enhanced mixing and mass transfer in microfluidic systems.Microsystems & nanoengineering · 2024Article
- Diffusiophoresis promotes phase separation and transport of biomolecular condensates.Research square · 2023Article
- Phase-separation facilitated one-step fabrication of multiscale heterogeneous two-aqueous-phase gel.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Liquid sculpture and curing of bio-inspired polyelectrolyte aqueous two-phase systems.Nature communications · 2023Article
- A Physicochemical Consideration of Prebiotic Microenvironments for Self-Assembly and Prebiotic Chemistry.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The synthetic pathways of life's building blocks are envisaged to be through a series of complex prebiotic reactions and processes. However, the strategy to compartmentalize and concentrate biopolymers under prebiotic conditions remains elusive. Liquid-liquid phase separation is a mechanism by which membraneless organelles form inside cells, and has been hypothesized as a potential mechanism for prebiotic compartmentalization. Associative phase separation of oppositely charged species has been shown to partition RNA, but the strongly negative charge exhibited by RNA suggests that RNA-polycation interactions could inhibit RNA folding and its functioning inside the coacervates. Here, we present a prebiotically plausible pathway for non-associative phase separation within an evaporating all-aqueous sessile droplet. We quantitatively investigate the kinetic pathway of phase separation triggered by the non-uniform evaporation rate, together with the Marangoni flow-driven hydrodynamics inside the sessile droplet. With the ability to undergo liquid-liquid phase separation, the drying droplets provide a robust mechanism for formation of prebiotic membraneless compartments, as demonstrated by localization and storage of nucleic acids, in vitro transcription, as well as a three-fold enhancement of ribozyme activity. The compartmentalization mechanism illustrated in this model system is feasible on wet organophilic silica-rich surfaces during early molecular evolution.
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