A systematic genomic screen implicates nucleocytoplasmic transport and membrane growth in nuclear size control

How cells control the overall size and growth of membrane-bound organelles is an important unanswered question of cell biology. Fission yeast cells maintain a nuclear size proportional to cellular size, resulting in a constant ratio between nuclear and cellular volumes (N/C ratio). We have conducted a genome-wide visual screen of a fission yeast gene deletion collection for viable mutants altered in their N/C ratio, and have found that defects in both nucleocytoplasmic mRNA transport and lipid synthesis alter the N/C ratio. Perturbing nuclear mRNA export results in accumulation of both mRNA and protein within the nucleus, and leads to an increase in the N/C ratio which is dependent on new membrane synthesis. Disruption of lipid synthesis dysregulates nuclear membrane growth and results in an enlarged N/C ratio. We propose that both properly regulated nucleocytoplasmic transport and nuclear membrane growth are central to the control of nuclear growth and size.
Author summary Membrane-bound organelles are maintained at a size proportional to cell size during cell growth and division. How this is achieved is a little-understood area of cell biology. The nucleus is generally present in single copy within a cell and provides a useful model to study overall membrane-bound organelle growth and organelle size homeostasis. Previous mechanistic studies of nuclear size control have been limited to cell-free nuclear assembly systems. Here, we screened a near genome-wide fission yeast gene deletion collection for mutants exhibiting aberrant nuclear size, to identify, more systematically, components involved in nuclear size control. Roles for protein complexes previously implicated in nuclear mRNA export and membrane synthesis were identified. Molecular and genetic analysis of mRNA nuclear export gene mutant cells with enlarged nuclear size revealed that general accumulation of nuclear content, including bulk mRNA and proteins, accompanies the nuclear size increase which is dependent on new membrane synthesis. We propose that properly regulated nucleocytoplasmic transport and nuclear envelope expansion are critical for appropriate nuclear size control in growing cells.