Chicken RNA-binding protein T-cell internal antigen-1 contributes to stress granule formation in chicken cells and tissues.

T-cell internal antigen-1 (TIA-1) has roles in regulating alternative pre-mRNA splicing, mRNA translation, and stress granule (SG) formation in human cells. As an evolutionarily conserved response to environmental stress, SGs have been reported in various species. However, SG formation in chicken cells and the role of chicken TIA-1 (cTIA-1) in SG assembly has not been elucidated. In the present study, we cloned cTIA-1 and showed that it facilitates the assembly of canonical SGs in both human and chicken cells. Overexpression of the chicken prion-related domain (cPRD) of cTIA-1 that bore an N-terminal green fluorescent protein (GFP) tag (pntGFP-cPRD) or Flag tag (pFlag-cPRD) induced the production of typical SGs. However, C-terminal GFP-tagged cPRD induced notably large cytoplasmic granules that were devoid of endogenous G3BP1 and remained stable when exposed to cycloheximide, indicating that these were not typical SGs, and that the pntGFP tag influences cPRD localization. Finally, endogenous cTIA-1 was recruited to SGs in chicken cells and tissues under environmental stress. Taken together, our study provide evidence that cTIA-1 has a role in canonical SG formation in chicken cells and tissues. Our results also indicate that cPRD is necessary for SG aggregation.