ArticleNature communications2025
Size control and oscillations of active droplets in synthetic cells.
Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 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
12 citing papers in PubMed.
- Sustained formation movement and destruction of coacervates in a waste-free system driven by electricity.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Active RNA synthesis patterns nuclear condensates.Cell systems · 2026Article
- Microbubble elevator induced buoyancy oscillations of reacting droplets.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Nonequilibrium phases of a biomolecular condensate facilitated by enzyme activity.Soft matter · 2026Article
- Kinase KEY1 controls pyrenoid condensate size throughout the cell cycle by disrupting phase separation interactions.Nature cell biology · 2026Article
- The role of spacer length and flexibility in peptide self-assembly.Beilstein journal of organic chemistry · 2026Article
- Accelerated Ostwald Ripening by Chemical Activity.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2025Article
- Recent Advances in Reactive Microdroplets for Clean Water and Energy.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2025Review
- Non-equilibrium demixing and dissolution of chiral coacervates via intrinsic catalysis.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Sustained, Reversible, and Adaptive Non-Equilibrium Steady States of a Dissipative DNA-Based System.Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) · 2025Article
- Kinase KEY1 controls pyrenoid condensate size throughout the cell cycle by disrupting phase separation interactions.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Oscillations in the formation and dissolution of molecular assemblies inside living cells are pivotal in orchestrating various cellular functions and processes. However, designing such rhythmic patterns in synthetic cells remains a challenge. Here, we demonstrate the spontaneous emergence of spatio-temporal oscillations in the number of droplets, size, and their spatial distribution within a synthetic cell. The coacervate-based droplets in these synthetic cells sediment and fuse at the cell's bottom. Through a size control mechanism, the sedimented, large droplets shrink by expelling droplet material. The expelled molecules nucleate new droplets at the top of the synthetic cell, which grow and sediment again. These oscillations are sustained by converting chemical fuel into waste and can continue for hundreds of periods without evidence of fatigue. Strikingly, the period of the oscillation is in the minute's regime and tunable. The design of oscillating artificial organelles in synthetic cells brings us closer to creating more life-like materials and de novo life.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.