Fig. 5.

The effect of proline in G3BP–G3BP interaction (A) and ssDNA–ssDNA interaction (B) in solution and the proposed mechanism for the modulation of AAs on the formation of SGs (C). The SGs are formed in the cytosol as a result of complex interactions among an assembly of proteins (including scaffold proteins which are crucial for the formation of SGs and a large variety of IDP) as well as many RNA in response to stress. The presence of AAs is proposed to render net attractive forces between these SG components weaker and thus modulate the formation of SGs. The modulation effect is composed of three aspects: i) lower SG formation rate; ii) smaller SG saturating number; and iii) less SG coalescence.