PMID: 9547300Jun 4, 1998Paper

Identification of an interchromosomal compartment by polymerization of nuclear-targeted vimentin

Journal of Cell Science
J M BridgerPeter Lichter

Abstract

A number of structural and functional subnuclear compartments have been described, including regions exclusive of chromosomes previously hypothesized to form a reactive nuclear space. We have now explored this accessible nuclear space and interchromosomal nucleoplasmic domains experimentally using Xenopus vimentin engineered to contain a nuclear localization signal (NLS-vimentin). In stably transfected human cells incubated at 37 degrees C, the NLS-vimentin formed a restricted number of intranuclear speckles. At 28 degrees C, the optimal temperature for assembly of the amphibian protein, NLS-vimentin progressively extended with time out from the speckles into strictly orientated intranuclear filamentous arrays. This enabled us to observe the development of a system of interconnecting channel-like areas. Quantitative analysis based on 3-D imaging microscopy revealed that these arrays were localized almost exclusively outside of chromosome territories. During mitosis the filaments disassembled and dispersed throughout the cytoplasm, while in anaphase-telophase the vimentin was recruited back into the nucleus and reassembled into filaments at the chromosome surfaces, in distributions virtually identical to those observed in the pr...Continue Reading

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