Summary Liquid-liquid phase separation, driven by collective interactions among multivalent and intrinsically disordered proteins, is thought to mediate the formation of membrane-less organelles in cells. Using parallel cellular and in vitro assays we show that the Nephrin intracellular domain (NICD), a disordered protein, drives intracellular phase separation via complex coacervation, whereby the negatively charged NICD co-assembles with positively charged partners to form protein-rich dense liquid droplets. Mutagenesis reveals that the driving force for phase separation depends on the overall amino acid composition and not the precise sequence of NICD. Instead, phase separation is promoted by one or more regions of high negative charge density and aromatic/hydrophobic residues that are distributed across the protein. Many disordered proteins share similar sequence characteristics with NICD, suggesting that complex coacervation may be a widely used mechanism to promote intracellular phase separation.

Different types of cell behavior including growth, motility, and navigation require actin proteins to assemble into filaments. Here, we describe a biochemical process that was able to disassemble actin filaments and limit their reassembly. Actin was a specific substrate of the multi-domain oxidation-reduction (Redox) enzyme, Mical, a poorly-understood actin disassembly factor that directly responds to Semaphorin/Plexin extracellular repulsive cues. Actin filament subunits were directly modified by Mical on their conserved pointed-end that is critical for filament assembly. Mical post-translationally oxidized the methionine 44 residue within the D-loop of actin, simultaneously severing filaments and decreasing polymerization. This mechanism underlying actin cytoskeletal collapse may have broad physiological and pathological ramifications.

SUMMARY The WAVE regulatory complex (WRC) controls actin cytoskeletal dynamics throughout the cell by stimulating the actin nucleating activity of the Arp2/3 complex at distinct membrane sites. However, the factors that recruit the WRC to specific locations remain poorly understood. Here we have identified a large family of potential WRC ligands, consisting of ~120 diverse membrane proteins including protocadherins, ROBOs, netrin receptors, Neuroligins, GPCRs and channels. Structural, biochemical and cellular studies reveal that a novel sequence motif that defines these ligands binds to a highly conserved interaction surface of the WRC formed by the Sra and Abi subunits. Mutating this binding surface in flies resulted in defects in actin cytoskeletal organization and egg morphology during oogenesis, leading to female sterility. Our findings directly link diverse membrane proteins to the WRC and actin cytoskeleton, and have broad physiological and pathological ramifications in metazoans.