Research untangles role of stress granules in neurodegenerative disease

Scientists from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Washington University in St. Louis report mechanistic insights into the role of biomolecular condensation in the development of neurodegenerative disease. The collaborative research, published in Molecular Cell, focused on the interactions that drive the formation of condensates versus the formation of amyloid fibrils and how these relate to stress granules. Stress granules are biomolecular condensates that form under conditions of cellular stress and have been previously implicated as drivers of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and other neurodegenerative diseases.