TY - JOUR
T1 - Biological Phase Separation and Biomolecular Condensates in Plants
AU - Emenecker, Ryan J.
AU - Holehouse, Alex S.
AU - Strader, Lucia C.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by the William H. Danforth Plant Science Fellowship (to R.J.E.), the National Science Foundation (IOS-1453650 to L.C.S.), the National Institutes of Health (R35GM136338 to L.C.S.), and start-up funds from Washington University in St. Louis (to A.S.H.). We would like to thank Debbie Maizels of Zoobotanica Scientific Illustration for artwork.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Annual Reviews Inc.. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/6/17
Y1 - 2021/6/17
N2 - A surge in research focused on understanding the physical principles governing the formation, properties, and function of membraneless compartments has occurred over the past decade. Compartments such as the nucleolus, stress granules, and nuclear speckles have been designated as biomolecular condensates to describe their shared property of spatially concentrating biomolecules. Although this research has historically been carried out in animal and fungal systems, recent work has begun to explore whether these same principles are relevant in plants. Effectively understanding and studying biomolecular condensates require interdisciplinary expertise that spans cell biology, biochemistry, and condensed matter physics and biophysics. As such, some involved concepts may be unfamiliar to any given individual. This review focuses on introducing concepts essential to the study of biomolecular condensates and phase separation for biologists seeking to carry out research in this area and further examines aspects of biomolecular condensates that are relevant to plant systems.
AB - A surge in research focused on understanding the physical principles governing the formation, properties, and function of membraneless compartments has occurred over the past decade. Compartments such as the nucleolus, stress granules, and nuclear speckles have been designated as biomolecular condensates to describe their shared property of spatially concentrating biomolecules. Although this research has historically been carried out in animal and fungal systems, recent work has begun to explore whether these same principles are relevant in plants. Effectively understanding and studying biomolecular condensates require interdisciplinary expertise that spans cell biology, biochemistry, and condensed matter physics and biophysics. As such, some involved concepts may be unfamiliar to any given individual. This review focuses on introducing concepts essential to the study of biomolecular condensates and phase separation for biologists seeking to carry out research in this area and further examines aspects of biomolecular condensates that are relevant to plant systems.
KW - biomolecular condensates
KW - membraneless organelles
KW - protein phase separation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85108324633&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1146/annurev-arplant-081720-015238
DO - 10.1146/annurev-arplant-081720-015238
M3 - Review article
C2 - 33684296
AN - SCOPUS:85108324633
SN - 1543-5008
VL - 72
SP - 17
EP - 46
JO - Annual Review of Plant Biology
JF - Annual Review of Plant Biology
ER -