A glass menagerie of low complexity sequences

Remarkably simple proteins play outsize roles in the execution of developmental complexity within biological systems. Sequence information determines structure and hence function, so how do low complexity sequences fulfill their functions? Recent discoveries are raising the curtain on a new dimension of the sequence-structure paradigm. In it, function derives not from the structures of individual proteins, but instead, from dynamic material properties of entire ensembles of the proteins acting in unison through phase changes. These phases include liquids, one-dimensional crystals, and - as elaborated herein - even glasses. The peculiar thermodynamics of glass-like protein assemblies, in particular, illuminate new principles of information flow through and, at times, orthogonal to the central dogma of molecular biology.