Extraordinary stiffening and reciprocal control in a DNA condensate/actin composite
Soft composites, materials consisting of inclusions within a polymeric matrix, offer a broad design space with diverse mechanical properties. Composite stiffness is normally set by the volume fraction of filler, and classical theory predicts at most ~25% stiffening when inclusions occupy 10% of the volume. Here we introduce a composite of phase-separated DNA droplets that occupy <10% of an entangled actin network, yet stiffen it 25-fold, reversibly. Microscopy reveals that actin penetrates the DNA droplets, leading network elasticity to determine their size; thus the system exhibits reciprocal control between matrix and droplet properties. We attribute the extraordinary stiffening to entrainment of actin by the droplets, which enlarges the effective inclusions until their contact network dominates the mechanics. This shows that liquid-liquid phase separation can control not only local compositions, but also mechanics, achieving exceptional stiffening at modest filler fractions through local geometries that constrain the matrix beyond the inclusions themselves.