Fig. 2: Stability bounds of biomolecular condensates upon peptide insertion.
a Normalized temperature (where Tc,FUS LCD = 322 K) vs. density phase diagram for FUS LCD in presence and absence of two peptides modulating its phase behaviour. Increasing concentrations of R24 augment the condensate density and critical solution temperature, while (SYSYKRKK)3 induces the opposite behaviour. Filled points represent direct measurements under coexistence conditions, while the empty point depicts the critical temperature for LLPS. The continuous lines are shown as a guide for the eye. At the bottom we represent typical snapshots of the NPT simulations employed to compute the phase diagram in presence of small peptides, where at temperatures below the critical one, the condensed phase remains stable at P = 0 bar, while above Tc, the system forms a low density phase. b Normalized critical temperature of FUS LCD mixtures with different peptide sequences (as indicated in the legend) as a function of the peptide concentration. c Normalized critical temperature (where Tc,TDP-43 LCD = 308 K) of TDP-43 LCD mixtures with different peptides as a function of the peptide concentration. The green and red shaded areas in (b, c) represent an increase and decrease in Tc, respectively. The error bars are obtained as the interval between the highest temperature at which the condensate is stable and the lowest one at which it is not, under P = 0 conditions.
