A conceptual framework for understanding phase separation and addressing open questions and challenges

Release of linker histone from the nucleosome driven by polyelectrolyte competition with a disordered protein

(2022) Pétur O. Heidarsson et al.   Nature Chemistry

Sequence-dependent surface condensation of a pioneer transcription factor on DNA

(2022) Jose A. Morin et al.   Nature Physics

Contribution of cytoplasm viscoelastic properties to mitotic spindle positioning

(2022) Jing Xie et al.   PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Tuning levels of low-complexity domain interactions to modulate endogenous oncogenic transcription

(2022) Shasha Chong et al.   MOLECULAR CELL

Dilute phase oligomerization can oppose phase separation and modulate material properties of a ribonucleoprotein condensate

(2022) Ian Seim et al.   PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Structure–Function Properties in Disordered Condensates

(2021) Kamal Bhandari et al.   JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY B

Wetting regulates autophagy of phase-separated compartments and the cytosol

(2021) Jaime Agudo-Canalejo et al.   NATURE

Chromatin mechanics dictates subdiffusion and coarsening dynamics of embedded condensates

(2021) Daniel S. W. Lee et al.   Nature Physics

How Hierarchical Interactions Make Membraneless Organelles Tick Like Clockwork

(2021) Jeremy D. Schmit et al.   TRENDS IN BIOCHEMICAL SCIENCES

High-fidelity reconstitution of stress granules and nucleoli in mammalian cellular lysate

(2021) Brian D. Freibaum et al.   JOURNAL OF CELL BIOLOGY

Viscoelasticity of biomolecular condensates conforms to the Jeffreys model

(2021) Huan-Xiang Zhou   JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS

Ligand effects on phase separation of multivalent macromolecules

(2021) Kiersten M. Ruff et al.   PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Membrane bending by protein phase separation

(2021) Feng Yuan et al.   PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Sequence-encoded and composition-dependent protein-RNA interactions control multiphasic condensate morphologies

(2021) Taranpreet Kaur et al.   Nature Communications

In vivo reconstitution finds multivalent RNA-RNA interactions as drivers of mesh-like condensates

(2021) Weirui Ma et al.   eLife

Paraspeckles are constructed as block copolymer micelles

(2021) Tomohiro Yamazaki et al.   EMBO JOURNAL

Phase separation drives aberrant chromatin looping and cancer development

(2021) Jeong Hyun Ahn et al.   NATURE

Local thermodynamics govern formation and dissolution of Caenorhabditis elegans P granule condensates

(2021) Anatol W. Fritsch et al.   PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Regulation of biomolecular condensates by interfacial protein clusters

(2021) Andrew W. Folkmann et al.   SCIENCE

The solubility product extends the buffering concept to heterotypic biomolecular condensates

(2021) Aniruddha Chattaraj et al.   eLife

Quantifying charge state heterogeneity for proteins with multiple ionizable residues

(2021) Martin J. Fossat et al.   BIOPHYSICAL JOURNAL

Nucleation landscape of biomolecular condensates

(2021) Shunsuke F. Shimobayashi et al.   NATURE

Deciphering how naturally occurring sequence features impact the phase behaviours of disordered prion-like domains

(2021) Anne Bremer et al.   Nature Chemistry

Endocytic proteins with prion-like domains form viscoelastic condensates that enable membrane remodeling

(2021) Louis-Philippe Bergeron-Sandoval et al.   PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Programmable viscoelasticity in protein-RNA condensates with disordered sticker-spacer polypeptides

(2021) Ibraheem Alshareedah et al.   Nature Communications

Shear relaxation governs fusion dynamics of biomolecular condensates

(2021) Archishman Ghosh et al.   Nature Communications

Phase Separation mediates NUP98 Fusion Oncoprotein Leukemic Transformation

(2021) Bappaditya Chandra et al.   Cancer Discovery

Physical Principles Underlying the Complex Biology of Intracellular Phase Transitions

(2020) Jeong-Mo Choi et al.   Annual Review of Biophysics

Valence and patterning of aromatic residues determine the phase behavior of prion-like domains

(2020) Erik W. Martin et al.   SCIENCE

Phase separation provides a mechanism to reduce noise in cells

(2020) A. Klosin et al.   SCIENCE

Competing Protein-RNA Interaction Networks Control Multiphase Intracellular Organization

(2020) David W. Sanders et al.   CELL

G3BP1 Is a Tunable Switch that Triggers Phase Separation to Assemble Stress Granules

(2020) Peiguo Yang et al.   CELL

RNA-Induced Conformational Switching and Clustering of G3BP Drive Stress Granule Assembly by Condensation

(2020) Jordina Guillén-Boixet et al.   CELL

Dissecting the Functional Contributions of the Intrinsically Disordered C-terminal Tail of Bacillus subtilis FtsZ

(2020) Megan C. Cohan et al.   JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

Composition-dependent thermodynamics of intracellular phase separation

(2020) Joshua A. Riback et al.   NATURE

Making the Case for Disordered Proteins and Biomolecular Condensates in Bacteria

(2020) Megan C. Cohan et al.   TRENDS IN BIOCHEMICAL SCIENCES

Dynamic metastable long-living droplets formed by sticker-spacer proteins

(2020) Srivastav Ranganathan et al.   eLife

Connecting Coil-to-Globule Transitions to Full Phase Diagrams for Intrinsically Disordered Proteins

(2020) Xiangze Zeng et al.   BIOPHYSICAL JOURNAL

Biomolecular condensates undergo a generic shear-mediated liquid-to-solid transition

(2020) Yi Shen et al.   Nature Nanotechnology

RNA-Mediated Feedback Control of Transcriptional Condensates

(2020) Jonathan E. Henninger et al.   CELL

Protein condensates as aging Maxwell fluids

(2020) Louise Jawerth et al.   SCIENCE

A molecular assembly phase transition and kinetic proofreading modulate Ras activation by SOS

(2019) William Y. C. Huang et al.   SCIENCE

Stoichiometry controls activity of phase-separated clusters of actin signaling proteins

(2019) Lindsay B. Case et al.   SCIENCE

Physics of Active Emulsions

(2019) Christoph A. Weber et al.   REPORTS ON PROGRESS IN PHYSICS

Considerations and Challenges in Studying Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation and Biomolecular Condensates

(2019) Simon Alberti et al.   CELL

Spontaneous driving forces give rise to protein−RNA condensates with coexisting phases and complex material properties

(2019) Steven Boeynaems et al.   PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Evidence for DNA-mediated nuclear compartmentalization distinct from phase separation

(2019) David Trombley McSwiggen et al.   eLife

Pol II phosphorylation regulates a switch between transcriptional and splicing condensates

(2019) Yang Eric Guo et al.   NATURE

Phospho-dependent phase separation of FMRP and CAPRIN1 recapitulates regulation of translation and deadenylation

(2019) Tae Hun Kim et al.   SCIENCE

Quantifying Dynamics in Phase-Separated Condensates Using Fluorescence Recovery after Photobleaching

(2019) Nicole O. Taylor et al.   BIOPHYSICAL JOURNAL

Organization of Chromatin by Intrinsic and Regulated Phase Separation

(2019) Bryan A. Gibson et al.   CELL

Evaluating phase separation in live cells: diagnosis, caveats, and functional consequences

(2019) David T. McSwiggen et al.   GENES & DEVELOPMENT

Nucleo-cytoplasmic Partitioning of ARF Proteins Controls Auxin Responses in Arabidopsis thaliana

(2019) Samantha K. Powers et al.   MOLECULAR CELL

LASSI: A lattice model for simulating phase transitions of multivalent proteins

(2019) Jeong-Mo Choi et al.   PLoS Computational Biology

Protein Network Structure Enables Switching between Liquid and Gel States

(2019) Jeremy D. Schmit et al.   JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY

A Molecular Grammar Governing the Driving Forces for Phase Separation of Prion-like RNA Binding Proteins

(2018) Jie Wang et al.   CELL

A User’s Guide for Phase Separation Assays with Purified Proteins

(2018) Simon Alberti et al.   JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

Differential solvation of intrinsically disordered linkers drives the formation of spatially organized droplets in ternary systems of linear multivalent proteins

(2018) Tyler S Harmon et al.   NEW JOURNAL OF PHYSICS

Chemical-Reaction-Controlled Phase Separated Drops: Formation, Size Selection, and Coarsening

(2018) Jean David Wurtz et al.   PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

Imaging dynamic and selective low-complexity domain interactions that control gene transcription

(2018) Shasha Chong et al.   SCIENCE

Coactivator condensation at super-enhancers links phase separation and gene control

(2018) Benjamin R. Sabari et al.   SCIENCE

Different Material States of Pub1 Condensates Define Distinct Modes of Stress Adaptation and Recovery

(2018) Sonja Kroschwald et al.   Cell Reports

Phase-separation mechanism for C-terminal hyperphosphorylation of RNA polymerase II

(2018) Huasong Lu et al.   NATURE

Transcription Factors Activate Genes through the Phase-Separation Capacity of Their Activation Domains

(2018) Ann Boija et al.   CELL

Mapping Local and Global Liquid Phase Behavior in Living Cells Using Photo-Oligomerizable Seeds

(2018) Dan Bracha et al.   CELL

Injectable tissue integrating networks from recombinant polypeptides with tunable order

(2018) Stefan Roberts et al.   NATURE MATERIALS

Liquid droplet formation by HP1α suggests a role for phase separation in heterochromatin

(2017) Adam G. Larson et al.   NATURE

Phase behaviour of disordered proteins underlying low density and high permeability of liquid organelles

(2017) Ming-Tzo Wei et al.   Nature Chemistry

Biomolecular condensates: organizers of cellular biochemistry

(2017) Salman F. Banani et al.   NATURE REVIEWS MOLECULAR CELL BIOLOGY

Size- and speed-dependent mechanical behavior in living mammalian cytoplasm

(2017) Jiliang Hu et al.   PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Structural and hydrodynamic properties of an intrinsically disordered region of a germ cell-specific protein on phase separation

(2017) Jacob P. Brady et al.   PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Control of transcriptional activity by design of charge patterning in the intrinsically disordered RAM region of the Notch receptor

(2017) Kathryn P. Sherry et al.   PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

The synaptonemal complex has liquid crystalline properties and spatially regulates meiotic recombination factors

(2017) Ofer Rog et al.   eLife

Intrinsically disordered linkers determine the interplay between phase separation and gelation in multivalent proteins

(2017) Tyler S Harmon et al.   eLife

Compositional Control of Phase-Separated Cellular Bodies

(2016) Salman F. Banani et al.   CELL

Coexisting Liquid Phases Underlie Nucleolar Subcompartments

(2016) Marina Feric et al.   CELL

Nucleation by rRNA Dictates the Precision of Nucleolus Assembly

(2016) Hanieh Falahati et al.   CURRENT BIOLOGY

Higher‐order oligomerization promotes localization of SPOP to liquid nuclear speckles

(2016) Melissa R Marzahn et al.   EMBO JOURNAL

Sequence Determinants of Intracellular Phase Separation by Complex Coacervation of a Disordered Protein

(2016) Chi W. Pak et al.   MOLECULAR CELL

Ki-67 acts as a biological surfactant to disperse mitotic chromosomes

(2016) Sara Cuylen et al.   NATURE

Phase separation of signaling molecules promotes T cell receptor signal transduction

(2016) Xiaolei Su et al.   SCIENCE

Local viscoelasticity of living cells measured by rotational magnetic spectroscopy

(2016) J.-F. Berret   Nature Communications

Phase Separation by Low Complexity Domains Promotes Stress Granule Assembly and Drives Pathological Fibrillization

(2015) Amandine Molliex et al.   CELL

A Human Interactome in Three Quantitative Dimensions Organized by Stoichiometries and Abundances

(2015) Marco Y. Hein et al.   CELL

Inverse Size Scaling of the Nucleolus by a Concentration-Dependent Phase Transition

(2015) Stephanie C. Weber et al.   CURRENT BIOLOGY

Relating sequence encoded information to form and function of intrinsically disordered proteins

(2015) Rahul K Das et al.   CURRENT OPINION IN STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY

The viscoelastic properties of chromatin and the nucleoplasm revealed by scale-dependent protein mobility

(2015) Fabian Erdel et al.   JOURNAL OF PHYSICS-CONDENSED MATTER

Phase Transition of a Disordered Nuage Protein Generates Environmentally Responsive Membraneless Organelles

(2015) Timothy J. Nott et al.   MOLECULAR CELL

Intrinsically disordered proteins in cellular signalling and regulation

(2015) Peter E. Wright et al.   NATURE REVIEWS MOLECULAR CELL BIOLOGY

Conserved interdomain linker promotes phase separation of the multivalent adaptor protein Nck

(2015) Sudeep Banjade et al.   PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

RNA transcription modulates phase transition-driven nuclear body assembly

(2015) Joel Berry et al.   PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

The disordered P granule protein LAF-1 drives phase separation into droplets with tunable viscosity and dynamics

(2015) Shana Elbaum-Garfinkle et al.   PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Motility-Induced Phase Separation

(2015) Michael E. Cates et al.   Annual Review of Condensed Matter Physics

Ultralow Interfacial Tensions of Aqueous Two-Phase Systems Measured Using Drop Shape

(2014) Ehsan Atefi et al.   LANGMUIR

A nuclear F-actin scaffold stabilizes ribonucleoprotein droplets against gravity in large cells

(2013) Marina Feric et al.   NATURE CELL BIOLOGY

Unmasking the roles of N- and C-terminal flanking sequences from exon 1 of huntingtin as modulators of polyglutamine aggregation

(2013) S. L. Crick et al.   PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

From Sequence and Forces to Structure, Function, and Evolution of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins

(2013) Julie D. Forman-Kay et al.   STRUCTURE

Cell-free Formation of RNA Granules: Low Complexity Sequence Domains Form Dynamic Fibers within Hydrogels

(2012) Masato Kato et al.   CELL

Phase transitions in the assembly of multivalent signalling proteins

(2012) Pilong Li et al.   NATURE

P-Bodies and Stress Granules: Possible Roles in the Control of Translation and mRNA Degradation

(2012) C. J. Decker et al.   Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology

Electrophoretic transport of biomolecules across liquid–liquid interfaces

(2011) Thomas Hahn et al.   JOURNAL OF PHYSICS-CONDENSED MATTER

Active liquid-like behavior of nucleoli determines their size and shape in Xenopus laevis oocytes

(2011) C. P. Brangwynne et al.   PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Protein Diffusion Across the Interface in Aqueous Two-Phase Systems

(2008) Götz Münchow et al.   LANGMUIR