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Review
. 2019 Feb 8;8(2):136.
doi: 10.3390/cells8020136.

The Nuclear Lamina as an Organizer of Chromosome Architecture

Yuri Y Shevelyov  1 , Sergey V Ulianov
Affiliations
Review

The Nuclear Lamina as an Organizer of Chromosome Architecture

Yuri Y Shevelyov et al. Cells. .

Abstract

The nuclear lamina (NL) is a meshwork of lamins and lamin-associated proteins adjoining the inner side of the nuclear envelope. In early embryonic cells, the NL mainly suppresses background transcription, whereas, in differentiated cell types, its disruption affects gene expression more severely. Normally, the NL serves as a backbone for multiple chromatin anchoring sites, thus shaping the spatial organization of chromosomes in the interphase nucleus. However, upon cell senescence, aging, or in some types of terminally differentiated cells and lamin-associated diseases, the loss of NL-chromatin tethering causes drastic alterations in chromosome architecture. Here, we provide an overview of the recent advances in the field of NL-chromatin interactions, focusing on their impact on chromatin positioning, compaction, repression, and spatial organization.

Keywords: H3K9me2/3; HP1; LAD; TAD; heterochromatin; lamin; nuclear envelope; nuclear lamina; nuclear periphery.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic representation of the main NL-chromatin tethering mechanisms.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic representation of different types of chromosome architecture generated upon loss of NL-chromatin tethering. (a) Conventional nuclear architecture in most mammalian cell types. (b) Nuclear architecture in Drosophila S2 cells lacking both A- and B-type lamins. (c) Nuclear architecture upon OIS or RS. (d) “Inverted” nuclear architecture in rod photoreceptors.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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