Human J-domain proteins promote stress granule disassembly and suppress neurodegeneration-linked protein aggregation

Stress granules are conserved biomolecular condensates that form under stress and rapidly disassemble during recovery. Stress granules have been linked to pathological protein aggregation and their impaired disassembly reduces cell viability, yet the mechanisms governing their clearance and protein aggregation remain unclear. We find that human HSP70 and a subset of J-domain proteins (JDPs) localize to stress granules and that chemical or genetic inhibition of these chaperones markedly slows granule disassembly. Conversely, overexpressing these JDPs, particularly DNAJB1, accelerates disassembly without altering assembly. In vitro, HSP70 and DNAJB1 partition into G3BP1 condensates and reduce their size in an ATP-dependent manner. In cells expressing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)-linked mutant FUS, DNAJB1 depletion further impairs stress granule clearance and promotes pre-amyloid accumulation, while depleting a non-stress granule JDP has no effect. Our findings demonstrate that specific JDP chaperones enhance stress granule disassembly and help limit aberrant protein aggregation.