Fig. 1. synDrops enable the analysis of condensate formation kinetics in S. cerevisiae and mammalian cells, and are amenable to simulation.

a, synDrops are inducible synthetic condensates composed of two proteins. Top) Gene and crystal structures of the two components. Each protein has three domains: an oligomerization domain (3BEY: Hexamer or 4LTB: Dimer), an inducible interaction domain (GAI or GID) and a fluorescent protein (BFP or GFP). Gibberellin (GA) induces binding between GAI and GID favoring the formation of a mesoscale molecular network (middle cartoon), as shown in representative images of both S. cerevisiae yeast cells and mammalian HeLa cells (bottom). b, GA addition leads to synDrop formation. Time course of synDrop formation in hog1Δ S. cerevisiae yeast cells, and mammalian HeLa cells. Scale bar, 10 μm c, Schematic of molecular dynamics model for synDrop assembly. The hexamer component is represented by a sphere with six uniformly-distributed binding sites; the dimer component is represented as a rod-like structure formed from three overlapping spheres with two binding sites positioned on opposite ends. A third component with no binding sites mimics ribosomes as macromolecular crowders. d, Representative images from HOOMD-blue MD simulations of synDrops system over time without crowders (top) and with 35% volume fraction of crowders (bottom).