NUCLEAR LAMINA ASSEMBLY, SYNTHESIS and DISAGGREGATION DURING the CELL CYCLE in SYNCHRONIZED Hela CELLS
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J. Cell Sci. 47, as-53 (1981) 25 Printed in Great Britain © Company of Biologists Limited 1081 NUCLEAR LAMINA ASSEMBLY, SYNTHESIS AND DISAGGREGATION DURING THE CELL CYCLE IN SYNCHRONIZED HeLa CELLS ERICH JOST* AND ROBERT T. JOHNSON European Molecular Biology Laboratory, D69 Heidelberg, Federal Republic of Germany, and Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, England. SUMMARY The pattern of assembly, synthesis and disaggregation of the nuclear envelope-associated lamina in synchronized HeLa cells has been examined by means of immunofluorescence microscopy of cell preparations treated with antibody to lamina polypeptide LP67 or lamin B, using the nomenclature of Gerace and Blobel. During the cell cycle the distribution of lamina polypeptide varies dramatically. Three distinct stages can be detected with respect to its location and synthesis: (1) Lamina polypeptide is cytoplasmically distributed during cell division particularly at the time of complete nuclear envelope breakdown. At telophase it is reassembled and becomes associated with regions of the chromosome surface. This process continues into early Glt lamina polypeptide associating progressively with the outer surface of the chromosomes; simultaneously its cytoplasmic concentration is reduced. The traffic of antigen from cytoplasm to the chromosomes is highest between telophase and Gt but continues at a reduced rate during G1. Inhibition of protein synthesis during division and G^ does not inhibit G1 lamina reforma- tion, suggesting that the Gj lamina is constructed from depolymerized cytoplasmically-stored polypeptide derived from the previous cell cycle. (2) Lamin B is synthesized in S-phase. The protein is rapidly accumulated at the nuclear periphery during the doubling of the nuclear surface. There is very little if any cytoplasmic location of lamina polypeptide in <S-phase cells. The 5-phase pattern of lamina distribution persists through early and mid G,. (3) Towards the end of G, and particularly with the onset of prophase, the nuclear membrane-bound lamina is released into the cytoplasm over approximately 30 min. (Fusion between metaphase and either Gx or .S-phase cells also results in the depolymerization of lamin B within 30 min.) Lamina polypeptides appear in the cytoplasm before the nuclear enve- lope has disappeared, and protein synthesis in Gt is required for complete lamina disaggregation. Lamina reformation in late mitosis and the polarity of its appearance in the telophase cell can be perturbed by treatment with colcemid or low temperature so that lamina is induced to associate with metaphase and anaphase chromosomes. In the absence of spindle microtubules lamina reformation may proceed around the surface of whole chromosomes, leading to the formation of micronuclei in Gl cells. We propose that in the normal cell nuclear envelope formation at telophase is related to the terminal distribution of cytoskeleton structures such that lamina is laid down only on the outer surface of the telophase genome beginning at the telomeric chromosome ends adjacent to the remaining mitotic fibres of the cleavage furrow. INTRODUCTION The 3 major polypeptides of the pore complex-lamina fraction of the nuclear envelope are the elements of a unique structural framework in the eukaryotic cell • Present address: Department of Genetics, University of Giessen, Heiuvich-Buff-Ring 58-62, D63 Giessen, F.R.G. 26 E. Jost and R. T. Johnson (for reviews see: Franke, 1974; Franke & Scheer, 1974). Topologically the nuclear pore complex-lamina fraction underlies the inner nuclear membrane and connects chromatin to the nuclear envelope. Experimental evidence for a lamina-chromatin interaction comes from studies of remnant structural components of nuclei after removal of large amounts of nuclear proteins and DNA by a procedure introduced by Mirsky & Ris (1951). The remaining structure, the nuclear 'matrix' or nuclear skeleton, has been studied in a variety of cells (e.g. Shankara Narayam, Steele, Smetana & Busch, 1967; Berezney & Coffey, 1974, 1977; Comings & Okada, 1976; Scheer et al. 1976; Wunderlich & Herlan, 1977; Miller, Huang & Pogo, 1978; Grebanier & Pogo, 1979; Pardoll, Vosenstein & Coffey, 1980). DNA remains asso- ciated with these structures in a specific manner and the DNA-binding properties of nuclear matrix polypeptides have been analysed by filter binding assays (Comings & Wallack, 1978), and by protein blotting (Bowen, Steinberg, Laemmli & Weintraub, 1980). In mouse hepatocytes it has been determined cytophotometrically that more than 50 % of the total nuclear DNA is located within 1 /tm of the nuclear envelope (Kiefer, Kiefer & Sandritter, 1971). DNA which remains attached to the nuclear envelope when it is isolated is enriched in A-T sequences (see review: Franke, 1974; Comings & Wallack, 1978) and at least partially organized in loops (Zentgraf, Falk & Franke, 1975). Human DNA which is intact and organized in domains but largely free of protein can be isolated from cells by preparing nucleoids. Nucleoids are structures resembling nuclei, which are obtained by gently lysing cells in solutions containing non-ionic detergents and high salt concentrations. These structures sediment in gradients con- taining intercalating agents in a manner characteristic of superhelical DNA (Cook & Brazell, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978; Cook, Brazell & Jost, 1976; Warren & Cook, 1978; McCready, Akrigg & Cook, 1979). Nucleoids are largely depleted of proteins (Cook et al. 1976; Levine, Jost & Cook, 1978), but associated with them are components of the nuclear pore complex-lamina fraction (Ely, D'Arcy & Jost, 1978). Lamina poly- peptides may help to stabilize nucleoids and may form the basis for the partition of the DNA molecule into a series of quasi circular domains. A large body of information about the chemistry of the 3 major lamina poly- peptides has been collected by Lam & Kaspar (1979a, b). Because of the differences in molecular weight determinations among the groups working with the 3 lamina polypeptides, in future we will refer to the polypeptides as lamin A, B and C following the proposal of Gerace & Blobel (1980). Lamin B exists as 2 electrophoretic- ally distinct polymeric species both of which are probably trimers and which differ in the extent of inter- or intramolecular disulphide bridges. Lamin A exists in di-, tetra- penta- and higher oligomeric forms, but lamin C only as monomer. Lamins A and C have close sequence homology whereas lamin B is distinctly different. The proteins are highly hydrophobic and the smallest polypeptide (lamin C) is pre- ferentially phosphorylated by an intrinsic membrane protein kinase (Lam & Kaspar, 19796). The 3 polypeptides extracted from rat liver nuclei and isolated by SDS-gel electro- phoresis were used to immunize chickens and the specificity of each antiserum was Nuclear lamina in synchronized HeLa cells 27 tested by means of immunofluorescence light microscopy and 'peroxidase'-electron microscopy using a variety of eukaryotic cells. Treatment with the antisera resulted in specific immunofluorescent staining of the proteinaceous lamina underlying the nuclear envelope (Ely et al. 1978; Krohne et al. 1978; Gerace, Blum & Blobel, 1978; Gerace & Blobel, 1980). The antisera produced a similar intensity of fluorescent labelling in the majority of cells tested with the exception of chicken fibroblasts which could not be extensively decorated with the 3 antisera, and chick erythrocytes, which showed no envelope-specific fluorescence (Jost et al. 1979). The individual location of the 3 polypeptides in the nuclear pore complex-lamina fraction is obscured by a strong cross-reaction between the 3 antisera and the antigens (Gerace et al. 1978; Ely et al. 1978) which may be explained on the basis of sequence homologies found among the polypeptides A and C (Lam & Kaspar, 1979 a), and possibly, A, C and B. For this reason we restrict our attention to results obtained with anti-LP67 or anti-lamin B as the marker polypeptide. The relationship between the nuclear matrix and the lamina is not entirely clear. The 2 prominent nuclear matrix polypeptides of molecular weight 66 and 62 kD (Long, Huang & Pogo, 1979) and polypeptides described by Berezney & Coffey (1974, 1977) as prominent components of the rat liver matrix are the major poly- peptides of the rat liver lamina and are located exclusively at the periphery of the nucleus when the nuclear envelope is present in interphase (Ely et al. 1978; Krohne et al. 1978; Jost et al. 1979; Gerace et al. 1978; Gerace & Blobel, 1980). Functionally, the peripheral nuclear 'matrix' and the lamina may be identical. The matrix has been identified as the attachment site of DNA replication points (Dijkwel, Mullenders & Wanka, 1979; Pardoll, Vogelstein & Coffey, 1980), though its role in other aspects of DNA behaviour such as repair or transcription is not certain. The morphogenesis of the nuclear lamina is closely related to the cell cycle as demonstrated by the use of antibodies directed against the 3 lamina polypeptides prepared by us (Ely et al. 1978; Krohne et al. 1978; Jost, D'Arcy & Ely, 1979), and by Gerace, Blum & Blobel (Gerace et al. 1978; Gerace & Blobel, 1980). In the present study, we extend our investigations of nuclear envelope dynamics by observing the distribution of lamin B in synchronized cells since this allows a more precise correlation to be made of the disappearance and reappearance of the nuclear envelope in a large number of dividing cells in identified stages