Oscillating concentrations suppress condensate coarsening

Abstract

Living cells utilize condensates to spatially concentrate molecules in response to dynamic signals. For instance, nuclear condensates respond to oscillations in transcription factor levels in the nucleoplasm, including those involved in repairing multiple DNA breaks. To understand how oscillating signals affect condensates, we analyze a theoretical model using numerical simulations and analytical theory. While passive dynamics would drive all molecules into a single condensate, we find that sufficiently fast oscillations stabilize multiple droplets, allowing control of their sizes. We thus reveal a new behavior of chemically active droplets, which could be exploited in synthetic applications.