Fibers and Glasses are Competing Material States in FUS Protein Condensation
- 1Leiden University
Abstract
Dense, well-ordered material states of proteins form the amyloid fibers that are a hallmark of neurodegenerative disease in the brain. Beyond forming amyloid fibers, some of these proteins can also adopt other material states termed condensates which are initially liquid-like but evolve to a soft, glassy phase. Fiber growth requires a large supply of monomers and, thus, it is often speculated that fibers emerge from within a dense condensate as it ages and its microscopic dynamics slow into a glassy state. Here, we use the well-established model system Fused in Sarcoma (FUS) to directly observe, quantify and theoretically describe fiber growth and its interplay with condensates. We report the discovery that fibers grow overwhelmingly in the dilute phase surrounding the condensates while the condensates concurrently evolve to a glassy arrested solid. The resulting protein fibers and glassy condensates are both distinct solid-like phases that coexist but do not directly interconvert. Taken together, these findings reveal that there are two competitive aging pathways in FUS condensation that are linked through phase separation kinetics.
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BibTeX
@misc{feng2026fibers,
title = {{Fibers and Glasses are Competing Material States in FUS Protein Condensation}},
author = {L. Feng and I. Muntz and R. Takaki and L. Ndamba and M. Ruer-Gruss and F. Julicher and L. Jawerth},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.28.754945},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.28.754945v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Fibers and Glasses are Competing Material States in FUS Protein Condensation
AU - L. Feng
AU - I. Muntz
AU - R. Takaki
AU - L. Ndamba
AU - M. Ruer-Gruss
AU - F. Julicher
AU - L. Jawerth
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/28
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.28.754945
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.28.754945v1
AB - Dense, well-ordered material states of proteins form the amyloid fibers that are a hallmark of neurodegenerative disease in the brain. Beyond forming amyloid fibers, some of these proteins can also adopt other material states termed condensates which are initially liquid-like but evolve to a soft, glassy phase. Fiber growth requires a large supply of monomers and, thus, it is often speculated that fibers emerge from within a dense condensate as it ages and its microscopic dynamics slow into a glassy state. Here, we use the well-established model system Fused in Sarcoma (FUS) to directly observe, quantify and theoretically describe fiber growth and its interplay with condensates. We report the discovery that fibers grow overwhelmingly in the dilute phase surrounding the condensates while the condensates concurrently evolve to a glassy arrested solid. The resulting protein fibers and glassy condensates are both distinct solid-like phases that coexist but do not directly interconvert. Taken together, these findings reveal that there are two competitive aging pathways in FUS condensation that are linked through phase separation kinetics.
ER -