Simulation of transcription factor clustering in nuclei from molecular kinetics

Transcription factors form clusters often described as condensates that exhibit emergent biophysical properties. Here we present a software package to simulate transcription factor spatial distributions from molecular diffusion and binding kinetics alone. The software simulates microscopy data and FRAP experiments and recapitulates the clustering behavior of experimentally characterized transcription factors. Our results demonstrate that condensate-like structures can emerge from molecular kinetics principles without invoking higher-order processes like phase separation.