CASPULE: A computational tool to study sticker spacer polymer condensates

Phase separated condensates are recognized as a ubiquitous mechanism of spatial organization in cell biology. Biophysical modeling of condensates provides critical insights into the dynamics and functions of these subcellular structures that are difficult to extract via experiments. Here we present an efficient computational pipeline, CASPULE ( C ondensate A nalysis of S ticker Spacer P olymers U sing the L AMMPS E ngine), to simulate and analyze the biological condensates made of sticker-spacer polymers. CASPULE implements a unique force field that combines traditional Langevin dynamics with a protocol for single-valent bond formation between stickers. This framework allows us to study the non-trivial biophysics that emerge out of the single-valent sticker interactions coupled with the effect of separation in energetic contribution by stickers and spacers. We provide detailed documentation on how to setup the simulation environment, perform simulations and analyze the results. Through case studies, we highlight the utility and efficacy of our pipeline. Importantly, we provide statistical parameters to characterize the cluster size distribution often observed in biological systems. We envision this tool to be broadly useful in decoding the interplay of kinetics and thermodynamics underlying the formation and function of biological condensates.

Code and documentation: https://caspule.github.io/caspule/