LAUSR.org creates dashboard-style pages of related content for over 1.5 million academic articles. Sign Up to like articles & get recommendations!

FAM69C functions as a kinase for eIF2α and promotes stress granule assembly

Photo by john_cameron from unsplash

Stress granules are dynamic cytoplasmic ribonucleoprotein granules that assemble in response to cellular stress. Aberrant formation of stress granules has been linked to neurodegenerative diseases. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying… Click to show full abstract

Stress granules are dynamic cytoplasmic ribonucleoprotein granules that assemble in response to cellular stress. Aberrant formation of stress granules has been linked to neurodegenerative diseases. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the initiation of stress granules remain elusive. Here we report that the brain‐enriched protein kinase FAM69C promotes stress granule assembly through phosphorylation of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 (eIF2α). FAM69C physically interacts with eIF2α and functions as a stress‐specific kinase for eIF2α, leading to stress‐induced protein translation arrest and stress granule assembly. Primary microglia derived from Fam69c knockout mice exhibit aberrant stress granule assembly in response to oxidative stress and ATP. Defective stress granule assembly in microglia correlates with the formation of ASC specks and NLRP3 inflammasome activation, whereas induction of stress granule precludes inflammasome formation. Consistently, increased NLRP3 levels, caspase‐1 cleavage and Il18 expression corroborate microglia‐associated neuroinflammation in aged Fam69c knockout mice. Our study demonstrates that FAM69C is critical for stress granule assembly and suggests its role in the regulation of microglia function.

Keywords: promotes stress; stress; stress granule; granule assembly; kinase eif2

Journal Title: EMBO Reports
Year Published: 2023

Link to full text (if available)


Share on Social Media:                               Sign Up to like & get
recommendations!

Related content

More Information              News              Social Media              Video              Recommended



                Click one of the above tabs to view related content.