Thu 30.05.2013, 10:00,  Belfer Botnar Auditorium
The Nuclear Envelope: A Nexus for Gene Regulation
Jason D. Lieb

Nuclear pores associate with active protein-coding genes in yeast and have been implicated in transcriptional regulation. Here, we show that in addition to transcriptional regulation, key components of C. elegans nuclear pores are required for processing of small non-coding RNAs transcribed by RNA Polymerase III (Pol III). Chromatin immunoprecipitation of NPP-13 and NPP-3, two integral components of the nuclear pore, and importin-ß IMB-1, provides strong evidence that this requirement is direct. All three proteins associate specifically with tRNA and small nucleolar RNA (snoRNA) genes undergoing Pol III transcription. These pore components bind immediately downstream of the Pol III pre-initiation complex, but are not required for its recruitment. Instead, NPP-13 are required for the cleavage of snoRNA precursor transcripts into mature snoRNAs, whereas processing of Pol II transcripts occurs normally. Our data suggest that integral nuclear pore proteins act to coordinate transcription and Pol III RNA transcript processing in C. elegans.
In addition, I will present results regarding interactions of genes with Lamin A in human cells derived from normal and Progeria patients.