[
International Worm Meeting,
2021]
Stress granules (SGs) are cytoplasmic ribonucleoprotein condensates that help reprogramme cells to adapt to and survive stress. Their dysregulation has been implicated in neurodegenerative diseases, cancer and ageing. SGs are conserved amongst eukaryotes and are composed predominantly of untranslated mRNAs, translation initiation complexes and RNA-binding proteins. They also interact with cellular signalling pathways to regulate changes in mRNA translation underpinning altered cell fate. Much of our understanding of SG function and behaviour is derived from cell-based studies, so it is important to address their role in an animal model. Our group has shown that key pathways regulating translation are important for SG assembly and function in human cell lines and we are now determining the in vivosignificance of this regulation in C. elegans. For example, we have found that the mTOR-S6 kinase pathway regulates the assembly and maintenance of SGs in both human cells and in C. elegans in response to heat shock. We have also found that specific translation initiation factors play key regulatory roles in SG assembly and aim to uncover the relationship between stress-induced translation inhibition, SG dynamics and organism adaption over the lifespan of C. elegans. This research will provide new insights into the role SGs play in the integrated organismal response to both acute environmental insult and longer-term stress.