The nuclear lamina and heterochromatin: a complex relationship

2011 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 1705-1709 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin M. Bank ◽  
Yosef Gruenbaum

In metazoan cells, the heterochromatin is generally localized at the nuclear periphery, whereas active genes are preferentially found in the nuclear interior. In the present paper, we review current evidence showing that components of the nuclear lamina interact directly with heterochromatin, which implicates the nuclear lamina in a mechanism of specific gene retention at the nuclear periphery and release to the nuclear interior upon gene activation. We also discuss recent data showing that mutations in lamin proteins affect gene positioning and expression, providing a potential mechanism for how these mutations lead to tissue-specific diseases.

eLife ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrey Poleshko ◽  
Cheryl L Smith ◽  
Son C Nguyen ◽  
Priya Sivaramakrishnan ◽  
Karen G Wong ◽  
...  

Cell-type-specific 3D organization of the genome is unrecognizable during mitosis. It remains unclear how essential positional information is transmitted through cell division such that a daughter cell recapitulates the spatial genome organization of the parent. Lamina-associated domains (LADs) are regions of repressive heterochromatin positioned at the nuclear periphery that vary by cell type and contribute to cell-specific gene expression and identity. Here we show that histone 3 lysine 9 dimethylation (H3K9me2) is an evolutionarily conserved, specific mark of nuclear peripheral heterochromatin and that it is retained through mitosis. During mitosis, phosphorylation of histone 3 serine 10 temporarily shields the H3K9me2 mark allowing for dissociation of chromatin from the nuclear lamina. Using high-resolution 3D immuno-oligoFISH, we demonstrate that H3K9me2-enriched genomic regions, which are positioned at the nuclear lamina in interphase cells prior to mitosis, re-associate with the forming nuclear lamina before mitotic exit. The H3K9me2 modification of peripheral heterochromatin ensures that positional information is safeguarded through cell division such that individual LADs are re-established at the nuclear periphery in daughter nuclei. Thus, H3K9me2 acts as a 3D architectural mitotic guidepost. Our data establish a mechanism for epigenetic memory and inheritance of spatial organization of the genome.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrey Poleshko ◽  
Cheryl L. Smith ◽  
Son C. Nguyen ◽  
Priya Sivaramakrishnan ◽  
John Isaac Murray ◽  
...  

AbstractCell-type-specific 3D organization of the genome is unrecognizable during mitosis. It remains unclear how essential positional information is transmitted through cell division such that a daughter cell recapitulates the spatial genome organization of the parent. Lamina-associated domains (LADs) are regions of repressive heterochromatin positioned at the nuclear periphery that vary by cell type and contribute to cell-specific gene expression and identity. Here we show that histone 3 lysine 9 dimethylation (H3K9me2) is an evolutionarily conserved, specific mark of nuclear peripheral heterochromatin and that it is retained through mitosis. During mitosis, phosphorylation of histone 3 serine 10 temporarily shields the H3K9me2 mark allowing for dissociation of chromatin from the nuclear lamina. Using high-resolution 3D immuno-oligoFISH, we demonstrate that H3K9me2-enriched genomic regions, which are positioned at the nuclear lamina in interphase cells prior to mitosis, re-associate with the forming nuclear lamina before mitotic exit. The H3K9me2 modification of peripheral heterochromatin ensures that positional information is safeguarded through cell division such that individual LADs are re-established at the nuclear periphery in daughter nuclei. Thus, H3K9me2 acts as a 3D architectural mitotic guidepost. Our data establish a mechanism for epigenetic memory and inheritance of spatial organization of the genome.


2020 ◽  
Vol 127 (Suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kohta Ikegami ◽  
Stefano Secchia ◽  
Omar Almakki ◽  
Alexis V Stutzman ◽  
Sachie Ikegami ◽  
...  

The segregation of heterochromatin domains (LADs) at the nuclear periphery by the nuclear lamina, composed by polymerized nuclear Lamin A/C, provides a longstanding paradigm for the control of gene expression and for the mechanisms underlying Lamin-A/C-associated disorders, including progeria and cardiomyopathy. Here, we provide evidence supporting a novel paradigm that Lamin A/C functions as a transcription factor in the nuclear interior. We discovered that Ser22-phosphorylated Lamin A/C (pS22-Lamin A/C), required for lamin depolymerization during mitosis, populated the nuclear interior throughout the cell cycle. pS22-Lamin A/C ChIP-deq demonstrated localization at a large subset of putative active enhancers, not LADs. pS22-Lamin A/C-binding sites were co-occupied by the transcriptional activator c-Jun. In progeria patient-derived fibroblasts, a subset of pS22-Lamin A/C-binding sites were lost whereas new pS22-Lamin A/C-binding sites emerged. New pS22-Lamin A/C binding was accompanied by increased histone acetylation and increased c-Jun binding, whereas loss of pS22-Lamin A/C-binding was accompanied by loss of histone acetylation and c-Jun binding. New pS22-Lamin A/C enhancer binding in progeria was associated with upregulated expression of genes implicated in progeria pathophysiology, including cardiovascular disease. In contrast, alteration of LADs in progeria-patient cells could not explain the observed gene expression changes. These results suggest that Lamin A/C regulates gene expression by enhancer binding in the nuclear interior, independent of its function at the nuclear lamina, providing a new paradigm for the pathogenesis of lamin-associated disorders. pS22-Lamin A/C was also present in the nuclear interior of adult mouse cardiomyocytes. Cardiomyocyte-specific deletion of Lmna encoding Lamin A/C in adult mice caused extensive transcriptional changes in the heart and dilated cardiomyopathy, without apparent reduction of nuclear peripheral Lamin A/C. Disruption of the gene regulatory rather than LAD tethering function of Lamin A/C may underlie the pathogenesis of disorders caused by LMNA mutations, including cardiomyopathy.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura A Murray-Nerger ◽  
Joshua L Justice ◽  
Pranav Rekapalli ◽  
Josiah E Hutton ◽  
Ileana M Cristea

Abstract The integrity and regulation of the nuclear lamina is essential for nuclear organization and chromatin stability, with its dysregulation being linked to laminopathy diseases and cancer. Although numerous posttranslational modifications have been identified on lamins, few have been ascribed a regulatory function. Here, we establish that lamin B1 (LMNB1) acetylation at K134 is a molecular toggle that controls nuclear periphery stability, cell cycle progression, and DNA repair. LMNB1 acetylation prevents lamina disruption during herpesvirus type 1 (HSV-1) infection, thereby inhibiting virus production. We also demonstrate the broad impact of this site on laminar processes in uninfected cells. LMNB1 acetylation negatively regulates canonical nonhomologous end joining by impairing the recruitment of 53BP1 to damaged DNA. This defect causes a delay in DNA damage resolution and a persistent activation of the G1/S checkpoint. Altogether, we reveal LMNB1 acetylation as a mechanism for controlling DNA repair pathway choice and stabilizing the nuclear periphery.


1991 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
M A Marshall ◽  
W E Timberlake

The Aspergillus nidulans wetA gene is required for synthesis of cell wall layers that make asexual spores (conidia) impermeable. In wetA mutant strains, conidia take up water and autolyze rather than undergoing the final stages of maturation. wetA is activated during conidiogenesis by sequential expression of the brlA and abaA regulatory genes. To determine whether wetA regulates expression of other sporulation-specific genes, its coding region was fused to a nutritionally regulated promoter that permits gene activation in vegetative cells (hyphae) under conditions that suppress conidiation. Expression of wetA in hyphae inhibited growth and caused excessive branching. It did not lead to activation of brlA or abaA but did cause accumulation of transcripts from genes that are normally expressed specifically during the late stages of conidiation and whose mRNAs are stored in mature spores. Thus, wetA directly or indirectly regulates expression of some spore-specific genes. At least one gene (wA), whose mRNA does not occur in spores but rather accumulates in the sporogenous phialide cells, was activated by wetA, suggesting that wetA may have a regulatory function in these cells as well as in spores. We propose that wetA is responsible for activating a set of genes whose products make up the final two conidial wall layers or direct their assembly and through this activity is responsible for acquisition of spore dormancy.


Some of the principles by which different cell types first arise at the beginning of animal development are illustrated by muscle cell formation in Amphibia. If the nucleus of a differentiated muscle cell is transplanted to an enucleated egg, some of the resulting embryos develop into tadpoles with a wide range of normally differentiated cells. These experiments show that genes undergo major changes in activity as a response to components of egg cytoplasm. Two fundamental mechanisms account for the regional activation of genes in early embryos. One involves the effect of localized ‘determinants’ in egg cytoplasm, and the other concerns cell interactions or embryonic induction. Both these mechanisms seem to be responsible for muscle cell formation in amphibian development. The old problem of embryonic induction has recently become accessible to analysis at the molecular level, especially in the case of the mesoderm or muscle-forming induction. This has been greatly facilitated by using a sensitive and quantitative assay to detect the first transcripts of muscle genes a few hours after the start of induction. The role of early events and of interactions among like cells during response to induction is discussed. In analysing specific gene activation following induction, DNA injection into fertilized eggs has shown that a very small part of the cardiac actin gene promoter is sufficient to enable it to respond to induction. Although the experimental work summarized here has been done on amphibian embryos, which are more suitable than other embryos for embryological manipulation, the conclusions reached are believed to be generally applicable to the development of other organisms.


2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (6) ◽  
pp. e1922864118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Ling Lee ◽  
Keiichi Ito ◽  
Wen-Chieh Pi ◽  
I-Hsuan Lin ◽  
Chi-Shuen Chu ◽  
...  

The chimeric transcription factor E2A-PBX1, containing the N-terminal activation domains of E2A fused to the C-terminal DNA-binding domain of PBX1, results in 5% of pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemias (ALL). We recently have reported a mechanism for RUNX1-dependent recruitment of E2A-PBX1 to chromatin in pre-B leukemic cells; but the subsequent E2A-PBX1 functions through various coactivators and the general transcriptional machinery remain unclear. The Mediator complex plays a critical role in cell-specific gene activation by serving as a key coactivator for gene-specific transcription factors that facilitates their function through the RNA polymerase II transcriptional machinery, but whether Mediator contributes to aberrant expression of E2A-PBX1 target genes remains largely unexplored. Here we show that Mediator interacts directly with E2A-PBX1 through an interaction of the MED1 subunit with an E2A activation domain. Results of MED1 depletion by CRISPR/Cas9 further indicate that MED1 is specifically required for E2A-PBX1–dependent gene activation and leukemic cell growth. Integrated transcriptome and cistrome analyses identify pre-B cell receptor and cell cycle regulatory genes as direct cotargets of MED1 and E2A-PBX1. Notably, complementary biochemical analyses also demonstrate that recruitment of E2A-PBX1 to a target DNA template involves a direct interaction with DNA-bound RUNX1 that can be further stabilized by EBF1. These findings suggest that E2A-PBX1 interactions with RUNX1 and MED1/Mediator are of functional importance for both gene-specific transcriptional activation and maintenance of E2A-PBX1–driven leukemia. The MED1 dependency for E2A-PBX1–mediated gene activation and leukemogenesis may provide a potential therapeutic opportunity by targeting MED1 in E2A-PBX1+ pre-B leukemia.


2022 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 578
Author(s):  
Lenka Horníková ◽  
Kateřina Bruštíková ◽  
Sandra Huérfano ◽  
Jitka Forstová

The nuclear lamina is the main component of the nuclear cytoskeleton that maintains the integrity of the nucleus. However, it represents a natural barrier for viruses replicating in the cell nucleus. The lamina blocks viruses from being trafficked to the nucleus for replication, but it also impedes the nuclear egress of the progeny of viral particles. Thus, viruses have evolved mechanisms to overcome this obstacle. Large viruses induce the assembly of multiprotein complexes that are anchored to the inner nuclear membrane. Important components of these complexes are the viral and cellular kinases phosphorylating the lamina and promoting its disaggregation, therefore allowing virus egress. Small viruses also use cellular kinases to induce lamina phosphorylation and the subsequent disruption in order to facilitate the import of viral particles during the early stages of infection or during their nuclear egress. Another component of the nuclear cytoskeleton, nuclear actin, is exploited by viruses for the intranuclear movement of their particles from the replication sites to the nuclear periphery. This study focuses on exploitation of the nuclear cytoskeleton by viruses, although this is just the beginning for many viruses, and promises to reveal the mechanisms and dynamic of physiological and pathological processes in the nucleus.


1996 ◽  
Vol 271 (36) ◽  
pp. 21870-21877 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Hollnagel ◽  
Dietmar Schröder ◽  
Gerhard Gross

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