Nuclear envelope‐remodeling events as models to assess the potential role of membranes on genome stability

Abstract

The nuclear envelope (NE) encloses the genetic material and functions in chromatin organization and stability. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the NE is bound to the ribosomal DNA (rDNA), highly repeated and transcribed, thus prone to genetic instability. While tethering limits instability, it simultaneously triggers notable NE remodeling. We posit here that NE remodeling may contribute to genome integrity maintenance. The NE importance in genome expression, structure, and integrity is well recognized, yet studies mostly focus on peripheral proteins and nuclear pores, not on the membrane itself. We recently characterized a NE invagination drastically obliterating the rDNA, which we propose here as a model to probe if and how membranes play an active role in genome stability preservation.

Polymer Modeling Reveals Interplay between Physical Properties of Chromosomal DNA and the Size and Distribution of Condensin-Based Chromatin Loops

“…Additionally, chromosomal loci can be physically constrained via tethering to external non-chromatin structures such as spindle microtubules, the nuclear lamina in interphase, matrix attachment regions (MARs), and scaffold attachment regions (SARs), or via internal tethering at the base of chromatin loops or by regions of entanglement [1][2][3][4][5]. Involved in a diversity of biological functions, tethering can be permanent and firm, as with the attachments at telomeres and centromeres in yeast [6][7][8][9][10][11].…”