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Nuclear distribution of actin and myosin I depends on transcriptional activity of the cell

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Abstract

As previous studies suggested, nuclear myosin I (NMI) and actin have important roles in DNA transcription. In this study, we characterized the dynamics of these two proteins during transcriptional activation in phytohemagglutinin (PHA) stimulated human lymphocytes. The stimulation led to strong up-regulation of NMI both on the mRNA and protein level, while actin was relatively stably expressed. The intranuclear distribution of actin and NMI was evaluated using immunogold labeling. In nucleoli of resting cells, actin was localized predominantly to fibrillar centers (FCs), while NMI was located mainly to the dense fibrillar component (DFC). Upon stimulation, FCs remained the main site of actin localization, however, an accumulation of both actin and NMI in the DFC and in the granular component was observed. In the nucleoplasm of resting lymphocytes, both actin and NMI were localized mostly in condensed chromatin. Following stimulation, the majority of both proteins shifted towards the decondensed chromatin. In transcriptionally active cells, both actin and NMI colocalized with nucleoplasmic transcription sites. These results demonstrate that actin and NMI are compartmentalized in the nuclei where they can dynamically translocate depending on transcriptional activity of the cells.

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Abbreviations

PHA:

Phytohemagglutinin

FC:

Fibrillar center

DFC:

Dense fibrillar component

GC:

Granular component

NMI:

Nuclear myosin I

RT:

Room temperature

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic (reg. no. 204/04/108 and 304/03/1118), by the Grant Agency of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (reg. no. IAA5039202), and by the institutional grant no. AV0Z5039906.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cell Ultrastructure and Molecular Biology, Institute of Experimental Medicine, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Vídeňská 1083, 142 20, Prague 4, Czech Republic

    Katarína Kyselá, Anatoly A. Philimonenko, Vlada V. Philimonenko, Michal Kahle & Pavel Hozák

  2. Department of Biomathematics, Institute of Physiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Vídeňská 1083, 142 20, Prague 4, Czech Republic

    Jiří Janáček

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  1. Katarína Kyselá
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  2. Anatoly A. Philimonenko
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  3. Vlada V. Philimonenko
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  5. Michal Kahle
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  6. Pavel Hozák
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Correspondence to Pavel Hozák.

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Kyselá, K., Philimonenko, A.A., Philimonenko, V.V. et al. Nuclear distribution of actin and myosin I depends on transcriptional activity of the cell. Histochem Cell Biol 124, 347–358 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00418-005-0042-8

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