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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2021 Apr 1.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2020 Jul 6;22(3):183–195. doi: 10.1038/s41580-020-0264-6

Figure 6: Oocytes may use condensates for long-term RNA storage.

Figure 6:

(A) Loss of fragile X mental retardation protein 1 (Fmr1) in Drosophila melanogaster oocytes accelerates the reduction in hatch rate in arrested oocytes over the fly life time. Fmr1 is expressed and forms condensates in the cytoplasm of stage 8 oocytes. Starvation of female flies leads to arrest of oocyte development at stage 14. Fmr1 depletion leads to a reduction in hatch rate over time.

(B) In humans, mutations in FMR1 that cause fragile X syndrome are associated with female infertility. The FMR1 protein forms inclusions in ovarian stromal cells. The number of follicles in women with fragile X syndrome decreases overtime more than in healthy women, leading to premature ovarian failure.

(C) In Xenopus laevis oocytes, the protein Xvelo, which contains an intrinsically disordered region (IDR) and a prion-like domain is required for the formation of Balbiani bodies through assembly of an amyloid–like network with RNA and mitochondria.