Laminopathic mutations interfere with the assembly, localization, and dynamics of nuclear lamins.

ABSTRACT: Lamins are nuclear intermediate filament proteins and the major building blocks of the nuclear lamina. Besides providing nuclear shape and mechanical stability, lamins are required for chromatin organization, transcription regulation, DNA replication, nuclear assembly, nuclear positioning, and apoptosis. Mutations in human lamins cause many different heritable diseases, affecting various tissues and causing early aging. Although many of these mutations result in nuclear deformation, their effects on lamin filament assembly are unknown. Caenorhabditis elegans has a single evolutionarily conserved lamin protein, which can form stable 10-nm-thick filaments in vitro. To gain insight into the molecular basis of lamin filament assembly and the effects of laminopathic mutations on this process, w

SUBMITTER: Wiesel N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2224182 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature