{"doi":"10.1101/2025.07.13.664571","title":"Cahn-Hilliard dynamical models for condensed biomolecular systems","abstract":"Biomolecular condensates create dynamic subcellular compartments that alter systems-level properties of the networks surrounding them. One model combining soluble and condensed states is the Cahn-Hilliard equation, which specifies a diffuse interface between the two phases. Customized approaches required to solve this equation are largely inaccessible. Using two complementary numerical strategies, we built stable, self-consistent Cahn-Hilliard solvers in Python, MATLAB, and Julia. The algorithms simulated the complete time evolution of condensed droplets as they dissolved or persisted, relating critical droplet size to a coefficient for the diffuse interface in the Cahn-Hilliard equation. We applied this universal relationship to the chromosomal passenger complex, a multi-protein assembly that reportedly condenses on mitotic chromosomes. The fully constrained Cahn-Hilliard simulations yielded dewetting and coarsening behaviors that closely mirrored experiments in different cell types. The Cahn-Hilliard equation tests whether condensate dynamics behave as a phase-separated liquid, and its numerical solutions advance generalized modeling of biomolecular systems.","journal":"bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)","year":2025,"id":571577,"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":0,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9527,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1091741,"name":"Min-Jhe Lu","orcid":"0000-0001-9613-7703","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1019724,"name":"Astrid Catalina Álvarez-Yela","orcid":"0000-0002-2911-1690","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1477689,"name":"Monserrat Gerardo-Ramírez","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":725828,"name":"P. Todd Stukenberg","orcid":"0000-0002-6788-2111","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":251027,"name":"John Lowengrub","orcid":"0000-0003-1759-0900","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":72659,"name":"Kevin A. Janes","orcid":"0000-0002-8028-6138","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":576969,"name":"Sarah M. Groves","orcid":"0000-0002-3122-2605","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":69,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:57:15.755535Z","pmid":"40791366","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":[]}