Remodeling the nucleus

Daniel Colón-Ramos, Mariano A. García-Blanco (Duke University, Durham, NC), and colleagues demonstrate in a recent article that Chlamydomonas nuclear architecture changes to accommodate cytoplasmic needs.

Chlamydomonas is a highly polarized cell that offers a unique system to study changes in nuclear shape. Loss of this algae's flagella (after certain chemical or mechanical stresses) causes the nucleus to adopt a pear-like shape and take an anterior position in the cell, nearer where the flagella once sat.

García-Blanco wondered whether sites of transcription of the β tubulin gene, which is strongly up-regulated upon deflagellation, move closer to the flagella to expedite their rebuilding. Immunocytochemistry and electron microscopy revealed that the β tubulin gene did not move from its posterior nuclear position. But the experiments did uncover an unexpected asymmetry of nuclear pore...