{"doi":"10.1101/2022.10.17.512593","title":"RNAs undergo phase transitions with lower critical solution temperatures","abstract":"Abstract Co-phase separation of RNAs and RNA-binding proteins is thought to drive the biogenesis of ribonucleoprotein granules. RNAs can also undergo phase transitions in the absence of proteins. However, the physicochemical driving forces of protein-free, RNA-driven phase transitions remain unclear. Here, we report that RNAs of various types undergo phase transitions with system-specific lower critical solution temperatures (LCSTs). This entropically-driven phase behavior requires Mg 2+ ions and is an intrinsic feature of the phosphate backbone that is modulated by RNA bases. RNA-only condensates can additionally undergo enthalpically favorable percolation transitions within dense phases. This is enabled by a combination of Mg 2+ -dependent bridging interactions among phosphate groups and RNA base-stacking / base-pairing. Phase separation coupled to percolation can cause dynamical arrest of RNAs within condensates and can suppress the catalytic activity of an RNase P ribozyme. Our work highlights the need to incorporate RNA-driven phase transitions into models for RNP granule biogenesis.","journal":"bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)","year":2022,"id":296699,"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":21,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9541,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2022-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":393457,"name":"Walter J. Zahurancik","orcid":"0000-0002-0084-3644","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":267843,"name":"Xiangze Zeng","orcid":"0000-0002-9848-3033","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":983992,"name":"Paul Pullara","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":525780,"name":"Lien B. Lai","orcid":"0000-0001-9139-978X","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":764118,"name":"Vaishnavi Sidharthan","orcid":null,"position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":107331,"name":"Rohit V. Pappu","orcid":"0000-0003-2568-1378","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":341430,"name":"Venkat Gopalan","orcid":"0000-0002-3016-2719","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":282019,"name":"Priya R. Banerjee","orcid":"0000-0002-6169-1461","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":473522,"name":"Gable M. Wadsworth","orcid":"0000-0002-0417-9613","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":101,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T00:31:16.555318Z","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":[]}