Nuclear stress granules: the awakening of a sleeping beauty?
Nuclear stress granules are subnuclear compartments that form in response to heat shock and other stress stimuli. Although many components of nuclear stress granules have been identified, including HSF1 and pre-mRNA processing factors, their function remains a mystery. A paper in this issue describes the stress-induced transcriptional activation of one of the nuclear stress granule target sites, a heterochromatic region that has been considered silent (Jolly et al., 2004). These intriguing findings will certainly give the research of these structures a new twist.
Sandqvist
Anton
A
Turku Centre for Biotechnology, BioCity, P.O. Box 123, FIN-20521 Turku, Finland.
Sistonen
Lea
L
D000818:Animals; D022003:Cell Nucleus Structures / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002899:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 9 / Q000235:genetics; D004276:DNA, Satellite / Q000235:genetics; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000076249:Heat Shock Transcription Factors; D006570:Heterochromatin / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D012322:RNA Precursors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D014157:Transcription Factors; D015533:Transcriptional Activation / Q000235:genetics*
D004276:DNA, Satellite; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C000619706:HSF1 protein, human; D000076249:Heat Shock Transcription Factors; D006570:Heterochromatin; D012322:RNA Precursors; D014157:Transcription Factors