ArticlePLoS computational biology2021
Motif-pattern dependence of biomolecular phase separation driven by specific interactions.
Article in PLoS computational biology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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16 citing papers in PubMed, 34 citations in OpenAlex.
- Designed IDPs phase separate and mix or demix according to sequence designed parameters.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Breaking β-sheets in FUS prion-like domain preserves phase separation and function but prevents aggregation and toxicity.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Molecular origins of viscoelasticity in biomolecular condensates.The Journal of chemical physics · 2026Article
- Biomolecular Phase Boundaries are Described by a Solubility Product That Accounts for Variable Stoichiometry and Soluble Oligomers.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2025Article
- Biomolecular condensate microstructure is invariant to sequence-encoded molecular and macroscopic properties.Soft matter · 2025Article
- Biomolecular phase boundaries are described by a solubility product that accounts for variable stoichiometry and soluble oligomers.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Biomolecular condensate viscoelasticity is dictated by the interplay between single-molecule shape memory and mesh reconfigurability.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Characterizing protein sequence determinants of nuclear condensates by high-throughput pooled imaging with CondenSeq.Nature methods · 2025Article
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- Determinants that enable disordered protein assembly into discrete condensed phases.Nature chemistry · 2024Article
- Proximity to criticality predicts surface properties of biomolecular condensates.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Macromolecular Crowding Is Surprisingly Unable to Deform the Structure of a Model Biomolecular Condensate.Biology · 2023Article
- Uncovering the mechanism for aggregation in repeat expanded RNA reveals a reentrant transition.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Molecular and environmental determinants of biomolecular condensate formation.Nature chemical biology · 2022Review
- Clustering of Aromatic Residues in Prion-like Domains Can Tune the Formation, State, and Organization of Biomolecular Condensates.Biochemistry · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
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Abstract
Eukaryotic cells partition a wide variety of important materials and processes into biomolecular condensates-phase-separated droplets that lack a membrane. In addition to nonspecific electrostatic or hydrophobic interactions, phase separation also depends on specific binding motifs that link together constituent molecules. Nevertheless, few rules have been established for how these ubiquitous specific, saturating, motif-motif interactions drive phase separation. By integrating Monte Carlo simulations of lattice-polymers with mean-field theory, we show that the sequence of heterotypic binding motifs strongly affects a polymer's ability to phase separate, influencing both phase boundaries and condensate properties (e.g. viscosity and polymer diffusion). We find that sequences with large blocks of single motifs typically form more inter-polymer bonds, which promotes phase separation. Notably, the sequence of binding motifs influences phase separation primarily by determining the conformational entropy of self-bonding by single polymers. This contrasts with systems where the molecular architecture primarily affects the energy of the dense phase, providing a new entropy-based mechanism for the biological control of phase separation.
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