Nuclear removal during terminal lens fiber cell differentiation requires CDK1 activity: appropriating mitosis-related nuclear disassembly.

ABSTRACT: Lens epithelial cells and early lens fiber cells contain the typical complement of intracellular organelles. However, as lens fiber cells mature they must destroy their organelles, including nuclei, in a process that has remained enigmatic for over a century, but which is crucial for the formation of the organelle-free zone in the center of the lens that assures clarity and function to transmit light. Nuclear degradation in lens fiber cells requires the nuclease DNase IIβ (DLAD) but the mechanism by which DLAD gains access to nuclear DNA remains unknown. In eukaryotic cells, cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (CDK1), in combination with either activator cyclins A or B, stimulates mitotic entry, in part, by phosphorylating the nuclear lamin proteins leading to the disassembly of the nuclear lamina a

SUBMITTER: Chaffee BR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4199135 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature