Proper orchestration of the thousands of biochemical processes that are essential to the life of every cell requires highly organized cellular compartmentalization of dedicated microenvironments. There are 2 ways to create this intracellular segregation to optimize cellular function. One way is to create specific organelles, enclosed spaces bounded by lipid membranes that regulate macromolecular flux in and out of the compartment. A second way is via membraneless biomolecular condensates that form due to to liquid-liquid phase separation. Although research on these membraneless condensates has historically been performed using animal and fungal systems, recent studies have explored basic principles governing the assembly, properties, and functions of membraneless compartments in plants. In this review, we discuss how phase separation is involved in a variety of key processes occurring in Cajal bodies (CBs), a type of biomolecular condensate found in nuclei. These processes include RNA metabolism, formation of ribonucleoproteins involved in transcription, RNA splicing, ribosome biogenesis, and telomere maintenance. Besides these primary roles of CBs, we discuss unique plant-specific functions of CBs in RNA-based regulatory pathways such as nonsense-mediated mRNA decay, mRNA retention, and RNA silencing. Finally, we summarize recent progress and discuss the functions of CBs in responses to pathogen attacks and abiotic stresses, responses that may be regulated via mechanisms governed by polyADP-ribosylation. Thus, plant CBs are emerging as highly complex and multifunctional biomolecular condensates that are involved in a surprisingly diverse range of molecular mechanisms that we are just beginning to appreciate.
© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of American Society of Plant Biologists.