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Oncogenic splicing regulated by phase separation

Nature Cell Biology volume 22, pages 916–918 (2020)Cite this article

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There is increasing appreciation that many proteins self-aggregate in cells to form functional subcompartments, some of which exist as a separate liquid phase. A study now identifies the biophysical properties of AKAP95 protein condensates as critical for supporting cancer cell proliferation and RNA splicing.

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Fig. 1: Clustering of transcriptional machinery and RNA splicing machinery in liquid-phase droplet condensates within the nucleus.
Fig. 2: Functional domains of AKAP95 (top) responsible for phase separation, protein–protein interactions, and RNA binding compared to those in FUS (bottom), an RNA-binding protein well established to phase separate.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program, Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Bo Liu & Omar Abdel-Wahab

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  1. Bo Liu
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  2. Omar Abdel-Wahab
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Correspondence to Omar Abdel-Wahab.

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Competing interests

O.A.-W. has served as a consultant for H3B Biomedicine, Foundation Medicine Inc, Merck, and Janssen, and is on the Scientific Advisory Board of Envisagenics Inc and AIChemy; O.A.-W. has received prior research funding from H3B Biomedicine unrelated to the current manuscript.

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Liu, B., Abdel-Wahab, O. Oncogenic splicing regulated by phase separation. Nat Cell Biol 22, 916–918 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41556-020-0553-5

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