Representative data set including: turbidity (UV-vis spectrophotometry) traces, fluorescene measurements, and data for statistical analyses, all in csv files, confocal and cryo-EM micrographs (pngs), and epifluorescence time and temperature-resolved movies (mp4). Epifluorescence microscopy movies are compressed for reasons of space, and the raw data are available through the authors.R.R.S also acknowledges funding support from the Mexican National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT, Grant No. 472427) and the Cambridge Trust. C.B. acknowledges funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie (RNA-Rep, MSCA grant no. 839899) and from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851. L.D.M. also acknowledges funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (ERC-STG No 851667 NANOCELL). D.K.O. acknowledges funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC, Early Career Researcher Grant no. 401667)