RNA gets in phase

Abstract

Several neurological disorders are linked to tandem nucleotide repeat expansion in the mutated gene. Jain and Vale (2017. Nature. https ://doi.org/10.1038/nature22386) show that, above a pathological threshold repeat number, base pairing interactions drive phase separation of RNA into membrane-less gels, suggesting that RNA can scaffold the assembly of phase-separated compartments that sequester proteins/ RNAs causing toxicity.