Speaker
Description
Cells control the size and organization of biomolecular condensates formed by liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS), yet the underlying physical principles remain incompletely understood. We propose a transport-driven mechanism in which undirected motor-mediated motion along cytoskeletal filaments redistributes phase-separating components, generating an effective non-equilibrium long-range repulsion that arrests coarsening. This is explored using a minimal reaction-diffusion-transport model that captures the interplay between binding-release kinetics, diffusion, and active transport. A linear stability analysis and three-dimensional simulations reveal a transition from macroscopic to microphase separation at remarkably low binding/release fractions, corresponding to minute fractions of motor-bound proteins. Tuning motor binding rates $b$ or transport velocities enables sublinear control of condensate dimensions ($L \sim b^{1/4}$) from nanometers to micrometers. This mechanism provides a simple physical route for spatially programmable condensate organization in living cells and active materials.
| Keyword-1 | LLPS |
|---|---|
| Keyword-2 | biomolecular condensate |
| Keyword-3 | phase-field simulation |