Stress granules: sites of mRNA triage that regulate mRNA stability and translatability

Mammalian stress granules (SGs) are cytoplasmic domains into which mRNAs are sorted dynamically in response to phosphorylation of eukaryotic initiation factor (eIF) 2alpha, a key regulatory step in translational initiation. The activation of one or more of the eIF2alpha kinases leads to SG assembly by decreasing the levels of eIF2-GTP-tRNA(Met), the ternary complex that is normally required for loading the initiator methionine onto the 48 S preinitiation complex to begin translation. This stress-induced scarcity of eIF2-GTP-tRNA(Met) allows the RNA-binding proteins TIA-1 (T-cell internal antigen-1) and TIAR (TIA-1-related protein) to bind the 48 S complex in lieu of the ternary complex, thereby promoting…