Journal of Biochemistry Advance Access published online on November 12, 2007
Journal of Biochemistry, doi:10.1093/jb/mvm219
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
© 2007 The Japanese Biochemical Society
JB Minireview |
Till disassembly do us part: a happy marriage of nuclear envelope and chromatin
Department of Biochemistry, Toho University School of Medicine, 5-21-16 Omori-nishi, Ota-ku, Tokyo 143-8540 Japan
Correspondence should be sent to: Yuichi Tsuchiya, Department of Biochemistry, Toho University School of Medicine, 5-21-16 Omori-nishi, Ota-ku, Tokyo 143-8540 Japan. Phone: +81-3-3762-4151 ext. 2356, FAX: +81-3-5493-5412, E-mail: tsuchiya{at}med.toho-u.ac.jp
Received September 28, 2007; Accepted October 12, 2007
| Abstract |
|---|
A characteristic feature of eukaryotic cells is the presence of nuclear envelope which separates genomic DNA from cytoplasm. Nuclear envelope is composed of inner nuclear membrane, which interacts with chromatin, and outer nuclear membrane, which is connected to endoplasmic reticulum. Nuclear pore complexes are inserted into nuclear envelope to form transport channels between nucleus and cytoplasm. In metazoan cells, an intermediate filament-based meshwork called as nuclear lamina exists between inner nuclear membrane and chromatin. Sophisticated collaboration of these molecular machineries is necessary for the structure and functions of nuclear envelope. Recent research advances have revealed that nuclear envelope dynamically communicates with chromatin and cytoskeleton to control multiple nuclear functions. In this minireview, I briefly summarize the basic concepts and current topics of functional relationships between nuclear envelope and chromatin.
Key Words: chromatin, lamin, nuclear envelope, nuclear membrane, nucleus