A new function for nuclear lamins: Providing surface tension to the nuclear drop

Editorial: Nuclear morphology in development and disease

“…Dickinson and Lele formulated a mathematical model to calculate nuclear shapes in cultured cells in various contexts, which were then compared to experimentally measured shapes. Close agreement between predicted and experimental shapes supports a previously proposed geometric principle of nuclear shaping ( Dickinson et al, 2022 ; Dickinson and Lele, 2023 ): the excess surface area of the nuclear lamina that manifests in the form of folds/wrinkles permits a wide range of highly deformed nuclear shapes under the constraints of constant surface area and constant volume. When the lamina becomes tensed (unwrinkled), a limiting nuclear shape is reached, which can be predicted entirely from these geometric constraints alone for a given cell shape.…”