Skip to main content
Dryad

Data from: Caenorhabditis elegans germ granules accumulate hundreds of low translation mRNAs with no systematic preference for germ cell fate regulators

Data files

Jun 24, 2024 version files 2.51 GB

Abstract

In animals with germ plasm, embryonic germline precursors inherit germ granules, condensates proposed to regulate mRNAs coding for germ cell fate determinants. In C. elegans, mRNAs are recruited to germ granules by MEG-3, a sequence non-specific RNA-binding protein that forms stabilizing interfacial clusters on germ granules. Using fluorescent in situ hybridization, we confirmed that 441 MEG-3-bound transcripts distribute in a pattern consistent with enrichment in germ granules. 13 are related to transcripts reported in germ granules in Drosophila or Nasonia. The majority, however, are low-translation maternal transcripts required for embryogenesis that are not maintained preferentially in the nascent germline. Granule enrichment raises the concentration of certain transcripts in germ plasm but is not essential to regulate mRNA translation or stability. Our findings suggest that only a minority of germ granule-associated transcripts contribute to germ cell fate in C. elegans and that the vast majority function as non-specific scaffolds for MEG-3.