Dynamics of protein condensates in weak-binding regime

Weak complementary interactions between proteins and nucleic acids are the main driving forces of intracellular liquid-liquid phase separation. The sticker-spacer model has emerged as a unifying principle for understanding the phase behavior of these multivalent molecules. It remains elusive how specific interactions mediated by stickers contribute to the rheological properties of the liquid condensates. Previous studies have revealed that for strong binding strength epsilon(h), the bulk diffusivity D depends on the effective bond lifetime tau, viz., D proportional to tau(-1). Consequently, equal concentrations of the complementary stickers induce a slow down in the dynamics of the condensates D proportional to e(-1.5 epsilon b). However, for weak-binding strength, it is expected that the resulting condensates are dynamic, loose network liquids rather than kinetically arrested, compact clusters. We develop a mean-field theory using the thermodynamics of the associative polymers and perform molecular-dynamics simulations based on the sticker-spacer model to study the controlling factors in the structure and dynamics of such condensates in the weak-binding regime. Through scaling analysis, we delineate how the free sticker fraction W-f and the bulk diffusivity D decrease with increasing binding energy and find that the internal dynamics of such network liquids are controlled by the free sticker fraction D proportional to W-f proportional to e(-0.5 epsilon b) rather than the effective bond lifetime. Referred to as the free-sticker-dominated diffusivity, the microscopic slowdown due to a gradual loss of the free stickers affects the viscosity of the condensates as well, with the scaling of the zero-shear viscosity eta proportional to e(0.5 epsilon b). Therefore, the way of controlling the structure, diffusivity, and viscosity of the condensates through the binding energy can be tested experimentally.