TY - JOUR TI - Recruitment of mRNAs to P granules by condensation with intrinsically-disordered proteins AU - Lee, Chih-Yung S AU - Putnam, Andrea AU - Lu, Tu AU - He, ShuaiXin AU - Ouyang, John Paul T AU - Seydoux, Geraldine A2 - Manley, James L A2 - Nilsen, Timothy W A2 - Parker, Roy A2 - Updike, Dustin L VL - 9 PY - 2020 DA - 2020/01/24 SP - e52896 C1 - eLife 2020;9:e52896 DO - 10.7554/eLife.52896 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.52896 AB - RNA granules are protein/RNA condensates. How specific mRNAs are recruited to cytoplasmic RNA granules is not known. Here, we characterize the transcriptome and assembly of P granules, RNA granules in the C. elegans germ plasm. We find that P granules recruit mRNAs by condensation with the disordered protein MEG-3. MEG-3 traps mRNAs into non-dynamic condensates in vitro and binds to ~500 mRNAs in vivo in a sequence-independent manner that favors embryonic mRNAs with low ribosome coverage. Translational stress causes additional mRNAs to localize to P granules and translational activation correlates with P granule exit for two mRNAs coding for germ cell fate regulators. Localization to P granules is not required for translational repression but is required to enrich mRNAs in the germ lineage for robust germline development. Our observations reveal similarities between P granules and stress granules and identify intrinsically-disordered proteins as drivers of RNA condensation during P granule assembly. KW - RNA granules KW - germ line KW - phase transition KW - intrinsically-disordered proteins KW - germ granules KW - MEG-3 JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -