Caenorhabditis elegans germ granules accumulate hundreds of low translation mRNAs with no systematic preference for germ cell fate regulators.

In animals with germ plasm, embryonic germline precursors inherit germ granules, condensates proposed to regulate mRNAs coding for germ cell fate determinants. In Caenorhabditis elegans, mRNAs are recruited to germ granules by MEG-3, a sequence non-specific RNA-binding protein that forms stabilizing interfacial clusters on germ granules. Using fluorescence in situ hybridization, we confirmed that 441 MEG-3-bound transcripts are distributed in a pattern consistent with enrichment in germ granules.

The P granule antibody KT3 recognizes epitopes in both PGL-1 and PGL-3.

The KT3 antibody is a commercially available antibody that recognizes the P granule protein PGL-3 (Takeda et al., 2008). Using immunostaining and western blotting of purified peptide fragments, we show that KT3 recognizes both PGL-3 and its paralog PGL-1 , likely through a shared epitope in the intrinsically disordered region.

Mechanisms of nuclear pore complex disassembly by the mitotic Polo-like kinase 1 (PLK-1) in embryos.

The nuclear envelope, which protects and organizes the genome, is dismantled during mitosis. In the zygote, nuclear envelope breakdown (NEBD) of the parental pronuclei is spatially and temporally regulated during mitosis to promote the unification of the maternal and paternal genomes. Nuclear pore complex (NPC) disassembly is a decisive step of NEBD, essential for nuclear permeabilization.

P-body-like condensates in the germline.

P-bodies are cytoplasmic condensates that accumulate low-translation mRNAs for temporary storage before translation or degradation. P-bodies have been best characterized in yeast and mammalian tissue culture cells. We describe here related condensates in the germline of animal models.

Nucleoporin foci are stress-sensitive condensates dispensable for C. elegans nuclear pore assembly.

Nucleoporins (Nups) assemble nuclear pores that form the permeability barrier between nucleoplasm and cytoplasm. Nucleoporins also localize in cytoplasmic foci proposed to function as pore pre-assembly intermediates. Here, we characterize the composition and incidence of cytoplasmic Nup foci in an intact animal, C.