Heterogenous nuclear ribonucleoproteins (hnRNPs) are an important, abundant class of nuclear proteins that bind pre-mRNA to guide mRNA processing and maturation.
We rediscovered that hnRNPC and hnRNPA form together with RNA large complexes that sediment in glycerol gradients at 40S. These particles with a diameter of 20nm have been termed «ribonucleosomes» to emphasize that they are believed to have analogous functions of histones but for RNA. Our analysis showed that these 40S hnRNP particles are a novel class of nuclear biomolecular condensates.

This work was carried out in the group of Prof. Oliver Mühlemann.

References:

• M. Domanski, E. Dedic, M. Escura Pérez, A. Cléry, S. Campagne, A.-C. Uldry, S. Braga, M. Heller, J. Rabl, P. Afanasyev, D. Boehringer, J. Nováček, F. T. Allain, O. Mühlemann;
  "40S hnRNP particles are a novel class of nuclear biomolecular condensates"
  Nucleic Acids Research, 2022, 50(11), 6300-6312; doi:10.1093/nar/gkac457.