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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2025.08.27.672390

Biomolecular phase boundaries are described by a solubility product that accounts for variable stoichiometry and soluble oligomers

Akram, S. A.·Chattaraj, A.·Salava, T.·Ditlev, J.·Loew, L. M.·Schmit, J. D.
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Abstract

The solubility product is a rigorous description of the phase boundary for salt precipitation and has previously been shown to qualitatively describe the condensation of biomolecules. Here we present a derivation of the solubility product showing that the solubility product is also a robust description of biomolecule phase boundaries if care is taken to account for soluble oligomers and variable composition within the dense phase. Our calculation describes equilibrium between unbound monomers, the dense phase, and an ensemble of oligomer complexes with significant finite-size contributions to their free energy. The biomolecule phase boundary very nearly resembles the power law predicted by the solubility product when plotted as a function of the monomer concentrations. However, this simple form is concealed by the presence of oligomers in the dilute phase. Accounting for the oligomer ensemble introduces complexities to the power law phase boundary including re-entrant behavior and large shifts for stoichiometrically matched molecules. We show that allowing variable stoichiometry in the dense phase expands the two phase region, which appears as curvature of the phase boundary on a double-logarithmic plot. Furthermore, this curvature can be used to predict variations in the dense phase composition at different points along the phase boundary. Finally, we show how the solubility product power law can be identified in experiments by using dilute phase dissociation constants to account for the oligomer ensemble.

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Akram, S. A., Chattaraj, A., Salava, T., Ditlev, J., Loew, L. M., Schmit, J. D.. 2025-08-29. Biomolecular phase boundaries are described by a solubility product that accounts for variable stoichiometry and soluble oligomers. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.08.27.672390

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