{"doi":"10.1101/2021.06.22.449249","title":"Pickering stabilization of a dynamic intracellular emulsion","abstract":"Abstract Biomolecular condensates are cellular compartments that form by phase separation in the absence of limiting membranes. Studying the P granules of C. elegans , we find that condensate dynamics are regulated by protein clusters that adsorb to the condensate interface. Using in vitro reconstitution, live observations and theory, we demonstrate that localized assembly of P granules is controlled by MEG-3, an intrinsically disordered protein that forms low dynamic assemblies on P granules. Following classic Pickering emulsion theory, MEG-3 clusters lower surface tension and slow down coarsening. During zygote polarization, MEG-3 recruits DYRK/MBK-2 kinase to accelerate localized growth of the P granule emulsion. By tuning condensate-cytoplasm exchange, interfacial clusters regulate the structural integrity of biomolecular condensates, reminiscent of the role of lipid bilayers in membrane-bound organelles. One Sentence Summary Biomolecular condensates are stabilized by interfacial nanoscale protein clusters.","journal":"bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)","year":2021,"id":221115,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":1,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9535,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2021-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":244823,"name":"Andrea Putnam","orcid":"0000-0001-7985-142X","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":620537,"name":"Chiu Fan Lee","orcid":"0000-0003-4363-9050","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":263699,"name":"Géraldine Seydoux","orcid":"0000-0001-8257-0493","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":620536,"name":"Andrew W. Folkmann","orcid":"0000-0003-2726-6987","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":65,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:53:50.838581Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}