Fig. 3: Size-controlled assembly of cage-stabilized protein condensates.

a Schematic illustration of condensate size variation by [interfacial protein cages]/[condensate] ratios. b The size diagram of HF oligo-stabilized PSH condensates with varying [PSH]/[Ni²⁺] and [HF oligo]. Confocal images were taken after 1 h incubation upon LLPS. c Negative-stained TEM images of nano-sized HF oligo-PSH condensates. Average condensate sizes are indicated below. d Size distribution profiles (based on negative-stained TEM images as shown in Fig. 2c) of nano-sized HF oligo-PSH condensates. e A denatured gel image of centrifuged condensates (Pellet, left) and remaining substances in the dilute phase (Sup, right) assembled with fixed [PSH] and increasing [HF oligo]. f Plots for estimated total surface areas of PSH condensates at varying concentrations (20–50 μM) as a function of cage concentrations. Each dot represents the outcome for each condition, with a linear estimate line fitted to the data. g Growth curves of mi3-LAF condensates over time with varying mi3 cage concentrations (n > 35 condensates). h Growth curves of PSH/mi3 condensates over time with extra PSH scaffold or NaCl addition (n > 100 condensates). Confocal images before and after addition are presented on the right. The fusion process for each case is shown below. Data are presented as mean values ± 0.5 s.d. Source data are provided as a Source Data file. Scale bars, b, g, h, 5 μm. c, h (bottom) 1 μm (100 nm for the enlarged image in (c)).