Organization out of disorder: liquid–liquid phase separation in plants

[Display omitted] •Dynamic compartmentalization through liquid–liquid phase separation is an important mechanism to regulate biochemistry in the cell.•Plant specific membraneless compartments may reveal novel mechanisms of liquid–liquid phase separation.•Intrinsically disordered regions are essential domains of proteins involved in forming membraneless compartments.•Disordered domains may act as sensors of the physicochemical environment of the cell. Membraneless compartments are formed from the dynamic physical association of proteins and RNAs through liquid–liquid phase separation, and have recently emerged as an exciting new mechanism to explain the dynamic organization of biochemical processes in the cell. In this review, we provide an overview of the current knowledge of the process of phase separation in plants and other eukaryotes. We discuss specific examples of liquid-like membraneless compartments found in green plants, their composition, and the intriguing prevalence of proteins with intrinsically disordered domains. Finally, we speculate on the function of disordered proteins in regulating the formation of membraneless compartments and how their conformational flexibility may be important for molecular memory and for sensing perturbations in the physicochemical environment of the cell, particularly important processes in sessile organisms.