Data from: Diverse, distinct, and densely packed DNA nanostar droplets

The liquid-liquid phase separation of biomolecules is an important process
for intracellular organization. Biomolecular sequence combinatorics leads
to a large variety of proteins and nucleic acids which can interact to
form a diversity of dense liquid ('condensate') phases. The
relationship between sequence design and the diversity of the resultant
phases is therefore of interest. Here, we explore this question using the
DNA nanostar system, which permits creation of multi-phase condensate
droplets through sequence engineering of the sticky end bonds that drive
particle-particle attraction. We explore the theoretical limits of
nanostar phase diversity, then experimentally demonstrate the ability to
create 9 distinct, non-adhering nanostar phases that do not share
components. We further study how thermal processing affects the morphology
and dynamics of such a highly diverse condensate system. We particularly
show that a rapid temperature quench leads to the formation of a densely
packed 2-D layer of droplets that is transiently stabilized by caging
effects enabled by the phase diversity, leading to glassy dynamics, such
as slow coarsening and dynamic heterogeneity. Generally, our work provides
experimental insight into the thermodynamics of phase separation of
complex mixtures, and demonstrates the rational engineering of complex,
long-range, multi-phase droplet structures.