Stress adaptation is crucial for organism survival and is one of the driving forces of biological evolution. One of the evolutionarily-conserved stress responses that plants share with other eukaryotes is formation of the membraneless organelles in the cytoplasm called stress granules (SGs). Stress granules are cytosolic foci formed to help plants survive stressful environmental conditions such high temperature, salinity, or depletion of oxygen caused by submergence. Although formation of SGs has been visualized and analyzed in all eukaryote species, such as insects, mammalian cells, yeasts, or plants, the molecular mechanisms underlying the pro-survival effects of SGs remain elusive, especially in plants where research in the field is still in its infancy.

Recent advances in animal systems have suggested that assembly of SGs is a two-step process, initiated with the formation of a dense and stable SG core, followed by the accumulation of proteins containing low-complexity regions (LCRs) and intrinsically disordered prion-like domains (PrLDs) into a peripheral shell, via a process involving liquid-liquid phase separation (LLP). It has been described that the central core of SGs typically contains components of the translational machinery, including mRNAs, eukaryotic translation factors, poly-A binding proteins (PABP) and the recruitment of 40S ribosomal proteins. In addition, proteins with different regulatory functions were shown to be localized into SG complexes, suggesting that it might be part of the mechanism that regulates protein stability and function, as well as moderating signaling cascades inside the cell. There is still more left to understand in the dynamics and functionality of SGs. What is the mechanism of recruitment? How the assembly and disassembly is being triggered? What are the components involved in increased stress tolerance?

This Research Topic aims to provide a framework to address the relevant queries in relation to organization, dynamics, development, and functionality of SGs. We invite contributions that fall under, but are not limited to the following topics:
• Mechanism of stress granule formation
• Role of SGs in stress signaling or tolerance
• Relation of SGs with other RNA foci
• SG composition
• SG involvement in regulation of protein stability
• Autophagy-related cytosolic foci

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Frontiers in Plant Science

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