Nuclear stress bodies: a heterochromatin affair?

It is still largely unknown how the various nuclear subcompartments are formed, why they form in particular locations and how they are linked to nuclear function. Nuclear stress bodies provide a new opportunity to address these questions and to test models of self-organization of nuclear structures. The assembly of these bodies requires the synthesis of non-coding RNAs with a probable role in the post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression and in higher-order chromatin organization.