HP-Bodies - Ancestral Condensates that Regulate RNA Turnover and Protein Translation in Bacteria.

ABSTRACT: Uncovering what drives select biomolecules to form phase-separated condensates in vivo and identifying their physiological significance are topics of fundamental importance. Here we show that nitrogen-starved Escherichia coli produce long-chain polyphosphates, which scaffold the RNA chaperone Hfq into phase-separating high molecular weight complexes together with components of the RNA translation and processing machinery. The presence of polyphosphate within these condensates, which we termed HP-bodies, controls Hfq function by selectively stabilizing polyadenylated RNAs involved in transcription and protein translation, and promoting interactions with translation- and RNA-metabolism-associated proteins involved in de novo protein synthesis. Lack of polyphosphate preve

SUBMITTER: Guan J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11839049 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature