Data from: Caenorhabditis elegans germ granules accumulate hundreds of low translation mRNAs with no systematic preference for germ cell fate regulators

In animals with germ plasm, embryonic germline precursors inherit germ
granules, condensates proposed to regulate mRNAs coding for germ cell fate
determinants. In C. elegans, mRNAs are recruited to germ granules
by MEG-3, a sequence non-specific RNA-binding protein that forms
stabilizing interfacial clusters on germ granules. Using fluorescent in
situ hybridization, we confirmed that 441 MEG-3-bound transcripts
distribute in a pattern consistent with enrichment in germ granules. 13
are related to transcripts reported in germ granules in Drosophila or
Nasonia. The majority, however, are low-translation maternal transcripts
required for embryogenesis that are not maintained preferentially in the
nascent germline. Granule enrichment raises the concentration of certain
transcripts in germ plasm but is not essential to regulate mRNA
translation or stability. Our findings suggest that only a minority of
germ granule-associated transcripts contribute to germ cell fate in C.
elegans and that the vast majority function as non-specific scaffolds for
MEG-3.