Fig. 4: Understanding the architecture due to temperature changes.
From: Biomolecular condensates with complex architectures via controlled nucleation
a, We construct diagrams similar to those in Fig. 3a,b to understand how cooling our model system changes the architecture. At 65 °C, our total solution ϕ (black) phase-separates into the three phases on the tie plane (blue). b, Changing the temperature to 40 °C changes the binodal location and tie plane (yellow). Phases 2 and 3 both change composition substantially along the red edge of the tie plane. We thus expect phase 2 to nucleate a maximum of 0.20 volume fraction of phase 3. We would expect phase 3 to nucleate a maximum of 0.07 volume fraction of phase 2. No amount of phase 1 nucleation is necessary to achieve the new compositions. The predicted volume fractions fit well with the observed volume fractions, particularly for larger condensates (Extended Data Fig. 5). c,d, Composition changes can force nucleation or mixing of phases. We can construct a look-up diagram using the mass balance to link the new location of the square phase to the forced nucleation of phase 1 (circle, blue), mixing with phase 1 (circle, yellow), nucleation of phase 3 (c) or phase 2 (d) (triangle, red) or mixing with phase 3 (c) or phase 2 (d) (triangle, green). e, The square phase is phase 2 in c and phase 3 in d, so the legend applies to both.
