Abstract
Abioic stresses cause various changes of gene and protein expression. Changes of gene and protein expression are regulated by not only mRNA transcription and translation but also mRNA degradation and storage. In yeast and mammalian cells, it has been reported that cytoplasmic granules such as stress granules (SGs) temporarily store non-translated mRNAs to inhibit translation and regulate gene and protein expression under stress conditions. In plants, it has been reported that SGs appear under heat stress condition. However, the physiological function of SGs and the mRNAs that are stored in SGs are still unclear. In order to clarify the functions of SGs, we studied subcellular localization of SGs under several stress conditions using overexpressors of Venus(modified GFP)-UBP1(a component of SGs), and found that SGs formation was induced by salinity stress as well as heat stress. These results indicate that SGs play an important role in abiotic stress responses in plant cells.
