Abstract Cellular liquid–liquid phase separation is a physiologically inevitable phenomenon in molecularly crowded environments inside cells and serves to compartmentalize biomolecules facilitate several functions, forming cytoplasmic nuclear RNA granules. Abnormalities the process granules are implicated onset of neurodegenerative diseases; initial liquid-like phase-separated droplets containi...

Calcium-gated secretion of proteins involves the transfer of "reserve" granules, exocytotic vesicles that are cytoplasmic and, hence, plasma membrane-naive, from the cell interior to the surface membrane where they dock prior to fusion. Docking and subsequent priming steps are thought to require cytoplasmic factors. These steps are believed to induce fusion competence. We have tested this hypot...

Germline-specific granules of unknown function are found in a wide variety of organisms, including C. elegans, where they are called P granules. P granules are cytoplasmic bodies in oocytes and early embryos. Throughout most of the C. elegans life cycle, however, P granules are associated with clusters of nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) on germ cell nuclei. We show that perinuclear P granules dif...

Stress granules (SGs) are well characterized cytoplasmic RNA bodies that form under various stress conditions. We have observed that exposure of mammalian cells in culture to low doses of UVC induces the formation of discrete cytoplasmic RNA granules that were detected by immunofluorescence staining using antibodies to RNA-binding proteins. UVC-induced cytoplasmic granules are not Processing Bo...

Introduction From their transcriptional birth to their degradation, cellular mRNAs are coated with proteins in messenger ribonucleoprotein (mRNP) complexes. The mRNP composition controls every aspect of the life of the mRNA, from pre-mRNA processing to mRNA localization, translation and turnover. Transitions between these events are accompanied by major mRNP remodeling and exchange of mRNP prot...

We have previously shown that poliovirus (PV) infection induces stress granule (SG) formation early in infection and then inhibits the formation of SG and disperses processing bodies (PBs) by the mid-phase of infection. Loss of SG was linked to cleavage of G3BP1 by viral 3C proteinase (3C(pro)), however dispersal of PBs was not strongly linked to cleavage of specific factors by viral proteinase...

Novel mRNA-containing cytoplasmic granules in ALK-transformed cells M. Fawal, O. Jean-Jean, N. Vanzo, and D. Morello 726–735 The NPM-ALK oncogenic tyrosine kinase is able to assemble large cytoplasmic structures that concentrate messenger RNAs (mRNAs) but do not include components of mRNA translation or degradation machineries. ALK-containing granules (AGs) move on microtubules. Through their a...

"Germ granules" are cytoplasmic, nonmembrane-bound organelles unique to germline. Germ granules share components with the P bodies and stress granules of somatic cells, but also contain proteins and RNAs uniquely required for germ cell development. In this review, we focus on recent advances in our understanding of germ granule assembly, dynamics, and function. One hypothesis is that germ granu...