Temporal gating dictates stress-induced transcript export from the nucleus.

Temporal gating of mRNA biogenesis determines nuclear export of stress-induced transcripts in human cells, with early transcripts exported before export inhibition during stress.

• Why it matters: Understanding how nuclear mRNA export is regulated during stress is crucial because it adds a layer of gene expression control beyond transcription and translation, impacting cellular stress responses.
• What they did: The study used single-molecule mRNA imaging and transcriptome-wide analyses to show that most stress-induced mRNAs accumulate in the nucleus during stress, but early transcribed mRNAs like HMOX1, JUN, and FOS escape nuclear retention, with transcription timing dictating export competence.
• The result: This work demonstrates that the timing of mRNA production, rather than sequence features, primarily governs nuclear export efficiency during stress, revealing a temporal mechanism that influences gene expression regulation under stress conditions.