In living cells, intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), such as FUS and DDX4, undergo phase separation, forming biomolecular condensates. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we investigate their behavior in their respective homogenous droplets. We find that the proteins exhibit transient subdiffusion due to the viscoelastic nature and confinement effects in the droplets. The conformation and the instantaneous diffusivity of the proteins significantly vary between the interior and the interface of the droplet, resulting in non-Gaussianity in the displacement distributions. This study highlights key aspects of IDP behavior in biomolecular condensates.
@article{arxiv.2401.10438,
title = {Diffusion of intrinsically disordered proteins within viscoelastic membraneless droplets},
author = {Fuga Watanabe and Takuma Akimoto and Robert B. Best and Kresten Lindorff-Larsen and Ralf Metzler and Eiji Yamamoto},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2401.10438},
year = {2025}
}