Protein involved in various processes, such as stress granule formation and innate immunity.Plays an essential role in stress granule formation.Stress granules are membraneless compartments that store mRNAs and proteins, such as stalled translation pre-initiation complexes, in response to stress.Promotes formation of stress granules phase-separated membraneless compartment by undergoing liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) upon unfolded RNA-binding: functions as a molecular switch that triggers RNA-dependent LLPS in response to a rise in intracellular free RNA concentrations.