The Role of Nucleoporin Elys in Nuclear Pore Complex Assembly and Regulation of Genome Architecture

Abstract

For a long time, the nuclear lamina was thought to be the sole scaffold for the attachment of chromosomes to the nuclear envelope (NE) in metazoans. However, accumulating evidence indicates that nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) comprised of nucleoporins (Nups) participate in this process as well. One of the Nups, Elys, initiates NPC reassembly at the end of mitosis. Elys directly binds the decondensing chromatin and interacts with the Nup107–160 subcomplex of NPCs, thus serving as a seeding point for the subsequent recruitment of other NPC subcomplexes and connecting chromatin with the re-forming NE. Recent studies also uncovered the important functions of Elys during interphase where it interacts with chromatin and affects its compactness. Therefore, Elys seems to be one of the key Nups regulating chromatin organization. This review summarizes the current state of our knowledge about the participation of Elys in the post-mitotic NPC reassembly as well as the role that Elys and other Nups play in the maintenance of genome architecture.

Nuclear architecture protein Distal antenna balances genome-binding and phase-separation properties to regulate neuroblast competence

“…Elys, one of the NPC proteins found in the IP-MS analyses, is a core scaffold protein of the NPC and has been shown to play a role in genome architecture regulation (Shevelyov, 2020). Elys binds across the genome at sites that intersect with multiple other NPC proteins (Gozalo et al, 2020; Pascual-Garcia et al, 2017; Shevelyov, 2020) and has also been shown to bind and relocate specific loci to the NPC (Scholz et al, 2019). Taking advantage of published Elys chromatin immunoprecipitation with sequencing (ChIP-seq) datasets from third instar Drosophila larvae brains, we found that Elys binds specifically at the hb gene intron (Fig.…”

“…Elys, one of the NPC proteins found in the IP-MS analyses, is a core scaffold protein of the NPC and has been shown to play a role in genome architecture regulation (Shevelyov, 2020).…”

“…Finally, we find that Dan strongly interacts with proteins of the NPC. Among these, we find that Elys, which has been shown to bind DNA and regulate nuclear architecture (Shevelyov, 2020), is required for termination of early competence. The results support a model for how a phase-separating, DNA-binding factor can confer dynamic restructuring to regulate neural progenitor competence transitions.…”

Nucleoporins facilitate ORC loading onto chromatin

“…3A). We used Elys protein levels as a proxy for the Nup98-96 depletion since these proteins are in the same complex (Franz et al, 2007;Gillespie et al, 2007;Rasala et al, 2006;Shevelyov, 2020) and we consistently observed a reduction in Elys protein in the Nup98-96 depletion (Supp. Fig.…”

“…In addition to their canonical function at NPCs, a subset of Nups bind to chromatin and regulate genome structure and function. For example, the nucleoporin Elys binds to chromatin in late mitosis and is required to assemble nuclear pore complexes onto chromatin prior to their insertion into the nuclear membrane (Franz et al, 2007; Galy et al, 2006; Gillespie et al, 2007; Rasala et al, 2006; Shevelyov, 2020). More recent work; however, has demonstrated that several Nups regulate both transcription and chromatin condensation (Capelson et al, 2010; Kalverda et al, 2010; Kuhn et al, 2019; Panda et al, 2014; Pascual-Garcia et al, 2014, 2017; Raices and D’Angelo, 2017; Vaquerizas et al, 2010).…”