Heat stress promotes Arabidopsis AGO1 phase separation and association with stress granule components.

Fiche publication

Date publication

mars 2024

Journal

iScience

Auteurs

Membres identifiés du Cancéropôle Est :
Dr BAUMBERGER Nicolas , Mr HAMMANN Philippe

Tous les auteurs :
Blagojevic A, Baldrich P, Schiaffini M, Lechner E, Baumberger N, Hammann P, Elmayan T, Garcia D, Vaucheret H, Meyers BC, Genschik P

Lien Pubmed

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38384836

Résumé

In , ARGONAUTE1 (AGO1) plays a central role in microRNA (miRNA) and small interfering RNA (siRNA)-mediated silencing. AGO1 associates to the rough endoplasmic reticulum to conduct miRNA-mediated translational repression, mRNA cleavage, and biogenesis of phased siRNAs. Here, we show that a 37°C heat stress (HS) promotes AGO1 protein accumulation in cytosolic condensates where it colocalizes with components of siRNA bodies and of stress granules. AGO1 contains a prion-like domain in its poorly characterized N-terminal Poly-Q domain, which is sufficient to undergo phase separation independently of the presence of SGS3. HS only moderately affects the small RNA repertoire, the loading of AGO1 by miRNAs, and the signatures of target cleavage, suggesting that its localization in condensates protects AGO1 rather than promoting or impairing its activity in reprogramming gene expression during stress. Collectively, our work sheds new light on the impact of high temperature on a main effector of RNA silencing in plants.