Figure 2.

(A) Thermal hysteresis of the condensates probed via coarse-grained protein simulations. (Top panel) Time-evolution starting from an homogeneous system where inter-protein interactions are moderate (i.e., ${\epsilon }_S=5k_{\mathrm{B}}T$; ${\epsilon }_D=0.5k_{\mathrm{B}}T$). (Bottom panel) Time evolution at the same conditions above, although starting from a matured condensate that was formed under ageing regime conditions (i.e., strong inter-protein interactions of ${\epsilon }_S=6.6k_{\mathrm{B}}T$). Note that in our model, temperature T is proportional to $\frac{1}{{\epsilon }_{D(S)}}$. (B) Number of strong interactions as a function of time within a preformed spherical condensate (${\overline{N}}_{s-s}$) normalised by the typical strong contact threshold (horizontal dashed line) that induces ageing behaviour of protein condensates at those conditions (i.e., number of strong interactions per condensate volume found at the cross-over of the blue curve with the kinetic threshold shown in Fig. 1B). Snapshots of the condensate shape as a function of time are shown. Protein segments that do not participate in strengthen contacts are depicted in grey, while those involved in clusters of stronger interactions are coloured in green. The protein interaction strength of this simulation was set to ${\epsilon }_S=6.6k_{\mathrm{B}}$T, the same set value for the condensates shown in the bottom left panel of Fig. 1B.