Molecular Grammar of Microtubule-Wetting Condensates
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Updated: Nov 5, 2026

Self-Assembly of Microtubule Tactoids
Published on: June 23, 2022
Aswin Vinod Muthachikavil1, Christoph Allolio2, Ayush Seal3
1Center for Advanced Systems Understanding, Helmholtz-Zentrum, Dresden-Rosendorf, Conrad-Schiedt-Straße 20, Görlitz, 02826, Saxony, Germany; Department of Chemical Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani, Hyderabad Campus, Jawahar Nagar, Medchal, Hyderabad 500078, India.
Abstract:
Microtubule-condensate interactions regulate cytoskeletal dynamics involved in cell division, vesicle transport and cellular locomotion. Due to the size of microtubules and the slow timescale of condensate structural relaxation, there has not been a systematic investigation at the molecular level as to what binding patterns (molecular grammar) enable condensate binding to microtubules. We provide a simulation protocol that is able to predict whether any given disordered protein sequence will bind to microtubules. This simulation setup is suitable for compound testing. Our pattern analysis allows us to establish two categories of strongly interacting subsequences that enable binding to microtubules: positively charged hydrophobic clusters and alternating charge sequences. Their overall optimal balance is analyzed and preferential regions of interaction on microtubules are identified and validated with known experimental results.
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Microtubules have two structurally similar globular protein subunits: α and β tubulins. In the cytosol, the α and β tubulins form a heterodimer. These αβ-heterodimers...

