Three α-crystallin domain proteins drive stress granule assembly through phase separation to confer thermotolerance in Arabidopsis.

Zhurong 1 (ZR1), ZR2, and ZR3 are plant-specific α-crystallin domain proteins that promote heat-stress stress granule assembly via heat-triggered liquid-liquid phase separation in Arabidopsis.

• Why it matters: Thermotolerance depends on rapid stress granule formation, but the plant molecular regulators that trigger and control this assembly are not well defined.
• What they did: The study identifies ZR1, ZR2, and ZR3 as stress granule components that associate with core SG proteins; heat induces ZR expression and triggers in vivo and in vitro LLPS, while deleting an intrinsically disordered fragment or mutating P182 in ZR1 impairs LLPS and SG assembly.
• The result: ZR proteins help maintain proteostasis by preventing heat-induced aggregation of client SG components, and loss of ZR function disrupts stress granule dynamics and compromises thermotolerance.

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