First published online October 27, 2005
Journal of Cell Science 118, 2101e (2005)
© The Company of Biologists Limited
Touching relationship between nuclear bodies
The eukaryotic nucleus contains numerous dynamic subdomains but the functional relationships between these are unclear. Michael Hebert and colleagues have been investigating the association between two such subdomains: PML bodies (so-named because they contain promyelocytic leukaemia protein) and Cajal bodies, structures rich in small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs). They report that, when a PML body and a Cajal body associate, they colocalize at an snRNA gene locus, and the Cajal body invariably lies between the locus and the PML body (see p. 4995). Binding studies reveal that a sequence near the N-terminus of the Cajal body protein coilin interacts directly with the PML body protein PIASy. In addition, the authors use experiments in coilin- and PIASy-knockout cell lines to show that the interaction is partly responsible for the association between the two types of structure in vivo. Because Cajal bodies and PML bodies are thought to be reservoirs for factors required for transcription, Hebert and colleagues speculate that their association at a single gene locus provides some form of regulatory control.
Related articles in JCS:
- Interactions between Coilin and PIASy partially link Cajal bodies to PML bodies
- Jun Sun, Hongzhi Xu, S. H. Subramony, and Michael D. Hebert
JCS 2005 118: 4995-5003.
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