A High-Throughput Method to Profile Protein Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation

Protein liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) plays an essential role in the dynamic assembly of various membraneless compartments, which fulfill different biological functions in cells. Numerous proteins were found to undergo LLPS in different conditions. However, a general approach to systemically identify and compare the LLPS ability of different proteins is lacking. Here, we introduce a high-throughput protein phase separation (HiPPS) profiling method to evaluate the LLPS ability of proteins using a combination of crystallization robot/manual mixing mode and high-content analysis system. This method enables us to rapidly and comprehensively explore the LLPS behavior of each individual protein as well as mixture of different proteins.