Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

RNA

Phase separation in plant miRNA processing

Nuclear dicing bodies were discovered in plants as subcellular droplets of a component of the Dicing complex, which is involved in microRNA production. Now they are revealed to be liquid–liquid phase-separated condensates with intrinsically disordered regions of the Dicing component SERRATE driving both phase separation and miRNA processing.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Plant miRNA processing occurs in liquid–liquid phase-separated condensates.

References

  1. Song, X., Li, Y., Cao, X. & Qi, Y. Annu. Rev. Plant Biol. 70, 489–525 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Borges, F. et al. Nat. Genet. 50, 186–192 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Fang, Y. & Spector, D. L. Curr. Biol. 17, 818–823 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Song, L., Han, M.-H., Lesicka, J. & Fedoroff, N. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104, 5437–5442 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Achkar, N. P., Cambiagno, D. A. & Manavella, P. A. Trends Plant Sci. 21, 1034–1044 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Xie, D. et al. Nat. Cell Biol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41556-020-00606-5 (2020).

  7. Ha, M. & Kim, V. N. Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 15, 509–524 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Yang, L., Liu, Z., Lu, F., Dong, A. & Huang, H. Plant J. 47, 841–850 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Banani, S. F., Lee, H. O., Hyman, A. A. & Rosen, M. K. Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 18, 285–298 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Speth, C. et al. eLife 7, e37078 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Fang, X., Cui, Y., Li, Y. & Qi, Y. Nat. Plants 1, 15075 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Bajczyk, M. et al. Nucleic Acids Res. 48, 6839–6854 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Bajczyk, M. et al. Plant Physiol. 179, 1030–1039 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Nishida, K. M. et al. Mol. Cell 49, 680–691 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Sabin, L. R. et al. Cell 138, 340–351 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robert A. Martienssen.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Lee, S.C., Martienssen, R.A. Phase separation in plant miRNA processing. Nat Cell Biol 23, 5–6 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41556-020-00614-5

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41556-020-00614-5

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing