Fig. 1: Assembly of barcode (Bs)-tethered polyadenine (pA)/cyanuric acid (CA) phase-separated condensed DNA microdroplets (CDMDs) and their dynamic compartmentalization by competitive invasion with fluorophore-functionalized strands.

A Panel I and II-Schematic phase-separation of pA-Bs-tethered strand and CA into CDMDs through the assembly of pA-Bs/CA triplex structures, their oligomerization into fibril intermediates that aggregate into the Bs-tethered pA/CA CDMDs. Panel III-Phase diagram corresponding to the concentrations of the constituent generating the CDMDs. Panel IV-Confocal brightfield image of the intermediate pA-Bs/CA fibrils. Panel V-Confocal bright-field image of the phase-separated CDMDs. (Indistinguishable images were obtained in n = 3 independent experiments of Panels IV and V) B Panel I-Schematic dynamic invasion of the Bs1-tethered CDMDs with red fluorophore-labeled S5. Panel II-Schematic dynamic invasion of the Bs1-functionalized CDMDs with blue fluorophore-labeled S22. Panel III-Competitive dynamic invasion of the Bs1 CDMDs with S5 and S22. C Temporal dynamic invasion of the Bs1-tethered CDMDs with: Panel I-red fluorophore-labeled S5 strand; Panel II-blue fluorophore-labeled S22 strand; Panel III-competitive invasion with red fluorophore-labeled S5 and blue fluorophore-labeled S22 (Indistinguishable images were obtained in n = 3 independent experiments). Parts of Fig. 1A, Panel I were generated using Servier Medical Art, provided by Servier, licensed under CC BY 4.0.