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Failure to complete DNA replication is a stochastic by-product of genome doubling in almost every cell cycle. During mitosis, under-replicated DNA (UR-DNA) is converted into DNA lesions, which are inherited by daughter cells and sequestered in 53BP1 nuclear bodies (53BP1-NBs). The fate of such cells remains unknown. Here, we show that the formation of 53BP1-NBs interrupts the chain of iterative damage intrinsically embedded in UR-DNA. Unlike clastogen-induced 53BP1 foci that are repaired throughout interphase, 53BP1-NBs restrain replication of the embedded genomic loci until late S phase, thus enabling the dedicated RAD52-mediated repair of UR-DNA lesions. The absence or malfunction of 53BP1-NBs causes premature replication of the affected loci, accompanied by genotoxic RAD51-mediated recombination. Thus, through adjusting replication timing and repair pathway choice at under-replicated loci, 53BP1-NBs enable the completion of genome duplication of inherited UR-DNA and prevent the conversion of stochastic under-replications into genome instability.

C3G (Crk SH3 domain binding guanine nucleotide releasing factor) (Rap guanine nucleotide exchange factor 1), essential for mammalian embryonic development, is ubiquitously expressed and undergoes regulated nucleocytoplasmic exchange. Here we show that C3G localizes to SC35-positive nuclear speckles and regulates splicing activity. Reversible association of C3G with speckles was seen on inhibition of transcription and splicing. C3G shows partial colocalization with SC35 and is recruited to a chromatin and RNase-sensitive fraction of speckles. Its presence in speckles is dependent on intact cellular actin cytoskeleton and is lost on expression of the kinase Clk1. Rap1, a substrate of C3G, is also present in nuclear speckles, and inactivation of Rap signaling by expression of GFP-Rap1GAP alters speckle morphology and number. Enhanced association of C3G with speckles is seen on glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta inhibition or differentiation of C2C12 cells to myotubes. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knockdown of C3G resulted in altered splicing activity of an artificial gene as well as endogenous CD44. C3G knockout clones of C2C12 as well as MDA-MB-231 cells showed reduced protein levels of several splicing factors compared with control cells. Our results identify C3G and Rap1 as novel components of nuclear speckles and a role for C3G in regulating cellular RNA splicing activity.

Paraspeckles are unique subnuclear structures that are built around a specific long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), NEAT1, which is comprised of two isoforms (NEAT1_1 and NEAT1_2) that are produced by alternative 3'-end processing. NEAT1 lncRNAs are unusual RNA polymerase II transcripts that lack introns. The non-polyadenylated 3'-end of NEAT1_2 is non-canonically processed by RNase P. NEAT1_2 is an essential component for paraspeckle formation. Paraspeckles form during the NEAT1_2 lncRNA biogenesis process, which encompasses transcription from its own chromosome locus through lncRNA processing and accumulation. Recent RNAi analyses of 40 paraspeckle proteins (PSPs) identified four PSPs that are required for paraspeckle formation by mediating NEAT1 processing and accumulation. In particular, HNRNPK was shown to arrest CFIm-dependent NEAT1_1 polyadenylation, leading to NEAT1_2 synthesis. The other three PSPs were required for paraspeckle formation, but did not affect NEAT1_2 expression. This observation suggests that NEAT1_2 accumulation is necessary but not sufficient for paraspeckle formation. An additional step, presumably the bundling of NEAT1 ribonucleoprotein sub-complexes, may be required for construction of the intact paraspeckle structure. NEAT1 expression is likely regulated at transcriptional and post-transcriptional steps under certain stress conditions, suggesting roles for paraspeckles in the lncRNA-mediated regulation of gene expression, such as the nucleocytoplasmic transport of mRNA in response to certain stimuli.

Nuclear bodies including nucleoli, Cajal bodies, nuclear speckles, Polycomb bodies, and paraspeckles are membraneless subnuclear organelles. They are present at steady-state and dynamically respond to basic physiological processes as well as to various forms of stress, altered metabolic conditions and alterations in cellular signaling. The formation of a specific nuclear body has been suggested to follow a stochastic or ordered assembly model. In addition, a seeding mechanism has been proposed to assemble, maintain, and regulate particular nuclear bodies. In coordination with noncoding RNAs, chromatin modifiers and other machineries, various nuclear bodies have been shown to sequester and modify proteins, process RNAs and assemble ribonucleoprotein complexes, as well as epigenetically regulate gene expression. Understanding the functional relationships between the 3D organization of the genome and nuclear bodies is essential to fully uncover the regulation of gene expression and its implications for human disease., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The nucleus is unique amongst cellular organelles in that it contains a myriad of discrete suborganelles. These nuclear bodies are morphologically and molecularly distinct entities, and they host specific nuclear processes. Although the mode of biogenesis appears to differ widely between individual nuclear bodies, several common design principles are emerging, particularly, the ability of nuclear bodies to form de novo, a role of RNA as a structural element and self-organization as a mode of formation. The controlled biogenesis of nuclear bodies is essential for faithful maintenance of nuclear architecture during the cell cycle and is an important part of cellular responses to intra- and extracellular events.

The promyelocytic leukaemia (PML) tumour suppressor protein epitomizes the PML-nuclear body (PML-NB) and is crucially required for the proper assembly of this macromolecular nuclear structure. Unlike other, more specialized subnuclear structures such as Cajal and Polycomb group bodies, PML-NBs are functionally promiscuous and have been implicated in the regulation of diverse cellular functions. PML-NBs are dynamic structures that favour the sequestration and release of proteins, mediate their post-translational modifications and promote specific nuclear events in response to various cellular stresses. Recent data suggest that PML-NBs may be heterogeneous in composition, mobility and function.

The nucleus is the defining feature of eukaryotic cells. It is a highly dynamic, membrane-bound organelle that encloses chromatin and thereby partitions gene transcription from sites of protein translation in the cytoplasm. Major cellular events, including DNA replication, messenger RNA synthesis and processing, and ribosome subunit biogenesis, take place within the nucleus, resulting in a continuous flux of macromolecules into and out of the nucleus through dedicated nuclear pore complexes in the nuclear envelope. Here, we review the impact of new technologies, especially in areas of fluorescence microscopy and proteomics, which are providing major insights into dynamic processes affecting both structure and function within the nucleus.

Whereas the PML protein has been reported to have both transcriptional coactivator and corepressor potential, the contribution of the PML nuclear body (PML NB) itself to transcriptional regulation is not well understood. Here we demonstrate that plasmid DNA artificially tethered to PML or the PML NB-targeting domain of Sp100 is preferentially localized to PML NBs. Using the tethering technique, we targeted a simian virus 40 promoter-driven luciferase reporter plasmid to PML NBs, resulting in the repression of the transgene transcriptional activity. Conversely, the tethering of a cytomegalovirus promoter-containing reporter plasmid resulted in activation. Targeting a minimal eukaryotic promoter did not affect its activity. The expression of targeted promoters could be modulated by altering the cellular concentration of PML NB components, including Sp100 and isoforms of the PML protein. Finally, we demonstrate that ICP0, the promiscuous herpes simplex virus transactivator, increases the level of transcriptional activation of plasmid DNA tethered to the PML NB. We conclude that when PML NB components are artificially tethered to reporter plasmids, the PML NB contributes to the regulation of the tethered DNA in a promoter-dependent manner. Our findings demonstrate that transient transcription assays are sensitive to the subnuclear localization of the transgene plasmid.

The ultrastructural replication cycle of human herpesvirus 6A and 6B, both T-lymphotropic viruses, with tropism for the central nervous system, was compared by electron microscopy in the same cells, that is, in the T-lymphoblastoid cell line SupT-1 and in human astrocytes. Both HHV-6A and HHV-6B replicated efficiently in SupT-1 and formed viral particles. The tegument is the least characterized structure of the herpesviral particle and both variants were able to form intranuclear membrane compartments called tegusomes in SupT-1 where tegumentation occurred. Also, tegumentation occurred in HHV-6A infected cells in the nucleoplasm without the presence of a tegusome. This suggests that there is more than one possible route of tegumentation. Differences in the replication cycles between HHV-6A and HHV-6B were also observed in the cytoplasm. One such difference was that prominent annulate lamellae were only found in the cytoplasm of HHV-6A infected cells. In astrocytes a successful formation of viral particles was only seen with the HHV-6A variant. The HHV-6A virus life cycle in astrocytes resembled the life cycle in the T-cell line SupT-1, except that no annulate lamellae were found. Complete viral particles were found extracellularly around the astrocytes and the supernatant of infected astrocytes were able to re-infect SupT-1 cells. This suggests that HHV-6A infection in astrocytes can generate complete, viable, and infectious viral particles. The HHV-6 variants behave differently in the same type of cells and have different tropisms for astrocytes, supporting the notion that the variants might induce different diseases., ((c) 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

The promyelocytic leukemia (PML) nuclear body (NB) is a dynamic subnuclear compartment that is implicated in tumor suppression, as well as in the transcription, replication, and repair of DNA. PML NB number can change during the cell cycle, increasing in S phase and in response to cellular stress, including DNA damage. Although topological changes in chromatin after DNA damage may affect the integrity of PML NBs, the molecular or structural basis for an increase in PML NB number has not been elucidated. We demonstrate that after DNA double-strand break induction, the increase in PML NB number is based on a biophysical process, as well as ongoing cell cycle progression and DNA repair. PML NBs increase in number by a supramolecular fission mechanism similar to that observed in S-phase cells, and which is delayed or inhibited by the loss of function of NBS1, ATM, Chk2, and ATR kinase. Therefore, an increase in PML NB number is an intrinsic element of the cellular response to DNA damage.

Synaptonemal complexes (SCs) are not formed during meiotic prophase in the fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Instead, so-called linear elements (LinEs) are formed at the corresponding stages. LinEs are remarkable in that their number does not correspond to the number of chromosomes or bivalents and that the changes in their organisation during prophase do not evidently reflect the pairing of chromosomes. Yet, LinEs are necessary for full meiotic pairing levels and for meiotic recombination. In this review, the composition of LinEs, their evolutionary relationship to SCs and their possible functions are discussed.

A single-molecule-imaging technique, atomic force microscopy (AFM) was applied to the analyses of the genome architecture of Staphylococcus aureus. The staphylococcal cells on a cover glass were subjected to a mild lysis procedure that had maintained the fundamental structural units in Escherichia coli. The nucleoids were found to consist of fibrous structures with diameters of 80 and 40 nm. This feature was shared with the E. coli nucleoid. However, whereas the E. coli nucleoid dynamically changed its structure to a highly compacted one towards the stationary phase, the S. aureus nucleoid never underwent such a tight compaction under a normal growth condition. Bioinformatic analysis suggested that this was attributable to the lack of IHF that regulate the expression of a nucleoid protein, Dps, required for nucleoid compaction in E. coli. On the other hand, under oxidative conditions, MrgA (a staphylococcal Dps homolog) was over-expressed and a drastic compaction of the nucleoid was detected. A knock-out mutant of the gene encoding the transcription factor (perR) constitutively expressed mrgA, and its nucleoid was compacted without the oxidative stresses. The regulatory mechanisms of Dps/MrgA expression and their biological significance were postulated in relation to the nucleoid compaction.

Force-induced changes in genome expression as well as remodeling of nuclear architecture in development and disease motivate a deeper understanding of nuclear mechanics. Chromatin and green fluorescent protein-lamin B dynamics were visualized in a micropipette aspiration of isolated nuclei, and both were shown to contribute to viscoelastic properties of the somatic cell nucleus. Reversible swelling by almost 200% in volume, with changes in salt, demonstrates the resilience and large dilational capacity of the nuclear envelope, nucleoli, and chromatin. Swelling also proves an effective way to separate the mechanical contributions of nuclear elements. In unswollen nuclei, chromatin is a primary force-bearing element, whereas swollen nuclei are an order of magnitude softer, with the lamina sustaining much of the load. In both cases, nuclear deformability increases with time, scaling as a power law-thus lacking any characteristic timescale-when nuclei are either aspirated or indented by atomic force microscopy. The nucleus is stiff and resists distortion at short times, but it softens and deforms more readily at longer times. Such results indicate an essentially infinite spectrum of timescales for structural reorganization, with implications for regulating genome expression kinetics.

Enucleation, a rare feature of mammalian differentiation, occurs in 3 cell types: erythroblasts, lens epithelium, and keratinocytes. Previous investigations suggest that caspase activation functions in lens epithelial and keratinocyte enucleation, as well as in early erythropoiesis encompassing erythroid burst-forming unit (BFU-E) differentiation to proerythroblast. To determine whether caspase activation contributes to later erythropoiesis and whether nuclear substructures other than chromatin reorganize, we analyzed distributions of nuclear subcompartment proteins and assayed for caspase-induced cleavage of subcompartmental target proteins in mouse erythroblasts. We found that patterns of lamin B in the filamentous network interacting with both the nuclear envelope and DNA, nuclear matrix protein NuMA (Nuclear mitotic apparatus), and splicing factors Sm and SC35 persisted during nuclear condensation, consistent with effective transcription of genes expressed late in differentiation. Thus, nuclear reorganization prior to enucleation is selective, allowing maintenance of critical transcriptional processes independent of extensive chromosomal reorganization. Consistent with these data, we found no evidence for caspase-induced cleavage of major nuclear subcompartment proteins during late erythropoiesis, in contrast to what has been observed in early erythropoiesis and in lens epithelial and keratinocyte differentiation. These findings imply that nuclear condensation and extrusion during terminal erythroid differentiation involve novel mechanisms that do not entail major activation of apoptotic machinery.

The PML protein is a defining constituent of subnuclear structures known as ND10. PML is expressed as a series of primary sequence isoforms through alternative RNA processing. Expression of each of six distinct PML isoforms that differed in their C-terminal domains caused reproducible differences in the number, size, and shape of ND10 in both transformed cell lines and diploid fibroblasts. In each case, PML from the endogenous genes was reorganized to participate with the exogenously expressed PML in the new configuration of ND10. Variation in ND10 number is known to occur during the cell cycle; however, the cell cycle distribution of the transfected cells that displayed these altered ND10 was similar for all six PML isoforms. Given our findings, the precise level of expression of the different PML isoforms under particular physiological conditions will be an important determinant of ND10 organization and function and is a potential point of regulation of PML/ND10 function.

The germinal vesicle (GV) of Xenopus laevis is an enormous nucleus that contains 18 giant lampbrush chromosomes and thousands of inclusions. The inclusions are primarily of three types: approximately 1500 extrachromosomal nucleoli, 50-100 Cajal bodies, and several thousand B-snurposomes, which correspond to speckles or interchromatin granule clusters in other nuclei. The large size and abundance of the GV organelles, as well as the ease with which they can be studied both in vivo and in vitro, make the GV an ideal object for analysis of nuclear structure and function.

The p53 tumour suppressor is crucial for the ability of the cell to either arrest cell cycle progression or activate apoptosis in response to stimuli that may impinge on genomic stability. p53 activation is controlled by mechanisms involving post-translational modifications, protein interactions and modulation of subcellular localisation. Recently, p53 was identified within nuclear bodies, particular subnuclear structures that can provide a 'platform' where interaction of p53 with specific cofactors is favoured. Modulation of recruitment/release of some of these components and modifications might be required for directing p53 toward one or another of its downstream response pathways.

With increasingly detailed images of nuclear structures revealed by advanced microscopy, a remarkably compartmentalized cell nucleus has come into focus. Although this complex nuclear organization remains largely unexplored, some progress has been made in deciphering the functional aspects of various subnuclear structures, revealing how this elaborate framework can influence gene activation. Several recent studies have helped illustrate how cells might utilize the nuclear architecture as an additional level of transcriptional control, perhaps by targeting genes and regulatory factors to specific sites within the nucleus that are designated for active RNA synthesis.

A key early event in the replication of herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) is the localization of infected-cell protein no. 0 (ICP0) in nuclear structures knows as ND10 or promyelocytic leukemia oncogenic domains (PODs). This is followed by dispersal of ND10 constituents such as the promyelocytic leukemia protein (PML), CREB-binding protein (CBP), and Daxx. Numerous experiments have shown that this dispersal is mediated by ICP0. PML is thought to be the organizing structural component of ND10. To determine whether the virus targets PML because it is inimical to viral replication, telomerase-immortalized human foreskin fibroblasts and HEp-2 cells were transduced with wild-type baculovirus or a baculovirus expressing the M(r) 69,000 form of PML. The transduced cultures were examined for expression and localization of PML in mock-infected and HSV-1-infected cells. The results obtained from studies of cells overexpressing PML were as follows. (i) Transduced cells accumulate large amounts of unmodified and SUMO-I-modified PML. (ii) Mock-infected cells exhibited enlarged ND10 structures containing CBP and Daxx in addition to PML. (iii) In infected cells, ICP0 colocalized with PML in ND10 early in infection, but the two proteins did not overlap or were juxtaposed in orderly structures. (iv) The enlarged ND10 structures remained intact at least until 12 h after infection and retained CBP and Daxx in addition to PML. (v) Overexpression of PML had no effect on the accumulation of viral proteins representative of alpha, beta, or gamma groups and had no effect on the accumulation of infectious virus in cells infected with wild-type virus or a mutant (R7910) from which the alpha 0 genes had been deleted. These results indicate the following: (i) PML overexpressed in transduced cells cannot be differentiated from endogenous PML with respect to sumoylation and localization in ND10 structures. (ii) PML does not affect viral replication or the changes in the localization of ICP0 through infection. (iii) Disaggregation of ND10 structures is not an obligatory event essential for viral replication.

The nucleolus is a prominent nuclear organelle which morphologically expresses all functional steps necessary for the synthesis of ribosomes, from transcription of rRNA genes to the assembly and maturation of preribosomal particles and their transport to the cytoplasm. Structurally, the nucleolus contains some basic components common to practically all cell types, namely fibrillar centers (FCs), the dense fibrillar component (DFC), and the granular component (GC); however, the organization and distribution of these components is highly variable, depending on cell identity and functional status. The different steps of ribosome biogenesis are not strictly correlated with the structural components of the nucleolus. Thus, FCs are most likely the anchoring sites for the accumulation of rDNA, and the sites where the assembly of transcription complexes takes place, but transcription of rRNA genes actually occurs at discrete points in the transition zone between FCs and the DFC. The DFC is a structurally homogeneous, but functionally heterogeneous component in which transcription and some early and advanced steps of pre-rRNA processing develop successively in a gradual fashion, from transition with FCs to transition with the GC. Finally, the GC is the site of the later steps of preribosomal processing, including the final assembly of ribosomal proteins for the export of mature particles to the cytoplasm. The rate of ribosome biogenesis, as well as the structure of the nucleolus, are highly influenced by the proliferation status of the cell, and by factors regulating cell cycle progression. These factors are nucleolar proteins, such as nucleolin, which are targets of signal transduction mechanisms, being at the same time regulators of key steps in preribosome synthesis and processing. Thus, many features of the nucleolus, such as the structural organization of its components, the level and distribution of certain nucleolar proteins and, in general, the rate of ribosome biogenesis, show profound variations throughout cell cycle periods. Particularly interesting is the behavior of the nucleolus during mitosis, in which its structure is disorganized and its activity is stopped, even though the individual transcription and processing complexes are not disassembled, but carried from one cell generation to the next one in such a way that the daughter-cell nucleoli are built with materials coming from the parent-cell nucleolus. Transcription complexes remain assembled at the chromosomal nucleolar organizer in which the rRNA genes are clustered, and processing complexes are carried at the chromosome periphery, and then they are organized into discrete entities called prenucleolar bodies, whose fusion, together with the resumption of transcription and processing, originates the new nucleolus.