# Diffuse assemblies drive oncogenic signalling

Source: [nature.com](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41556-026-02114-4) · 2026-11-13 · Life
Page: https://themorning.science/story/diffuse-assemblies-drive-oncogenic-signalling-b7bb39d5250ca13f
Kind: research · Impact: medium

## In brief

- Cytoplasmic condensates formed by receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) fusion oncoproteins had been implicated in regulating oncogenic signalling.
- Gonzalez-Martinez, Mumford et al. show that the condensate-forming fusion oncoprotein EML4–ALK can drive oncogenic Ras–Erk signalling from small multimers in the dilute phase.
- The paper is published in Nature Cell Biology on 13 November 2026 (doi:10.1038/s41556-026-02112-6), with a companion article (doi:10.1038/s41556-026-02114-4).

## Why it matters

The findings suggest that condensation is not required for EML4–ALK to drive Ras–Erk signalling, which may change which molecular features researchers target when studying RTK fusion oncoproteins.

## Timeline

- 2026-11-13: Study published online in Nature Cell Biology

## Coverage

- [Diffuse assemblies drive oncogenic signalling](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41556-026-02114-4) — nature.com, 2026-11-13
- [Low-order assemblies drive oncogenic RTK fusion signalling without condensation](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41556-026-02112-6) — nature.com, 2026-11-13

Tags: oncogenic signalling, receptor tyrosine kinase, biomolecular condensates, eml4-alk, ras-erk signalling

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Brief generated by AI (claude-haiku-5-5) from the reporting listed under Coverage. Headlines belong to their publishers. The Morning Science – https://themorning.science