Emerging Roles of Biomolecular Condensates and Phase Separation in Plant Stress Adaptation and Gene Regulation.

Biomolecular condensates formed by liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) are linked to plant stress adaptation and gene regulation, integrating stress perception with transcriptional and post-transcriptional control.

• Why it matters: Plants must rapidly reprogram gene expression under heat, drought, salinity, and pathogen exposure, but how LLPS functionally supports these regulatory shifts remains unclear.
• What they did: This review synthesizes biophysical principles and recent studies showing abiotic and biotic stressors can initiate LLPS and remodel nuclear and cytosolic condensates, affecting transcription factors, chromatin, RNA stability, and selective translation.
• The result: Stress-induced changes in condensate composition and material properties, plus PTMs that enable reversibility, suggest LLPS contributes significantly to gene regulation and stress adaptation, though mechanistic validation varies by system.

AI summary of the abstract · may contain errors · not medical advice · read the paper.