The role of ordered cooperative assembly in biomolecular condensates

Biomolecular condensates, regardless of whether they exhibit liquid-like properties, are in many cases not fully amorphous, but instead exhibit partial degrees of local structure and order. Here, we discuss how ordered interactions may underlie the cooperative assembly and cellular function of a wide variety of partially ordered macromolecular assemblies. In this Comment, the authors draw attention to the role of partial order in biomolecular condensates and propose that cooperative, ordered interactions between condensate components could underlie the formation and function of these diverse macromolecular assemblies.