ArticleNature communications2023
Quantitative real-time in-cell imaging reveals heterogeneous clusters of proteins prior to condensation.
Article in Nature communications, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 42 citations in OpenAlex.
- Single-molecule FRET and tracking of transfected biomolecules in living cells.Biophysical journal · 2026Article
- Distinguishing near- versus off-critical phase behaviors of intrinsically disordered proteins.Reports on progress in physics. Physical Society (Great Britain) · 2026Article
- Entropic Charge Separation as a General Mechanism Arresting Nanoscale Condensate Coarsening.Physical review letters · 2026Article
- ATP and small amphiphilic molecules act as molecular matchmakers to fine-tune FET protein clusters.Communications chemistry · 2025Article
- Differential conformational expansion of NUP98-HOXA9 oncoprotein from nanosized assemblies to macrophases.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Nuclear-import receptors remodel the dilute phase to suppress phase transitions of RNA-binding proteins with prion-like domains.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- FUS nanoclusters are a distinct state within the dilute phase.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Clustering within a single-component biomolecular condensate.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Current practices in the study of biomolecular condensates: a community comment.Nature communications · 2025Article
- RNA helicases DDX3X and DDX3Y form nanometer-scale RNA-protein clusters that support catalytic activity.Current biology : CB · 2024Article
- Molecular insights into the interaction between a disordered protein and a folded RNA.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Intermolecular energy migration via homoFRET captures the modulation in the material property of phase-separated biomolecular condensates.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Direct computations of viscoelastic moduli of biomolecular condensates.The Journal of chemical physics · 2024Article
- Measurement of solubility product reveals the interplay of oligomerization and self-association for defining condensate formation.Molecular biology of the cell · 2024Article
- Core-shell model of the clusters of CPEB4 isoforms preceding liquid-liquid phase separation.Biophysical journal · 2024Article
- Fundamental Aspects of Phase-Separated Biomolecular Condensates.Chemical reviews · 2024Review
- Molecular insights into the interaction between a disordered protein and a folded RNA.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Aromatic and arginine content drives multiphasic condensation of protein-RNA mixtures.Biophysical journal · 2024Article
- Solutes unmask differences in clustering versus phase separation of FET proteins.Nature communications · 2024Article
- MolPhase, an advanced prediction algorithm for protein phase separation.The EMBO journal · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Our current understanding of biomolecular condensate formation is largely based on observing the final near-equilibrium condensate state. Despite expectations from classical nucleation theory, pre-critical protein clusters were recently shown to form under subsaturation conditions in vitro; if similar long-lived clusters comprising more than a few molecules are also present in cells, our understanding of the physical basis of biological phase separation may fundamentally change. Here, we combine fluorescence microscopy with photobleaching analysis to quantify the formation of clusters of NELF proteins in living, stressed cells. We categorise small and large clusters based on their dynamics and their response to p38 kinase inhibition. We find a broad distribution of pre-condensate cluster sizes and show that NELF protein cluster formation can be explained as non-classical nucleation with a surprisingly flat free-energy landscape for a wide range of sizes and an inhibition of condensation in unstressed cells.
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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.