In recent years, scientists have identified a new type of compartment in cells, often called a condensate. These condensates form when weakly interacting proteins and RNA molecules segregate themselves from the rest of the contents of the cell, akin to oil separating from water to form little droples. The discovery of condensates has led to a flurry of papers on how cells use them to compartmentalize processes within a cell and on the physical mechanisms that allow condensates to form and function.
In a recent paper, the Huang lab presented the first application of Folding@home to understand the dynamics of molecules in condensates. They found that the number of hydrogen bonds that a protein (aka guest peptide) can form with RNA determines how quickly the protein can move around within a condensate.
