Nonhistone human chromatin protein PC4 is critical for genomic integrity and negatively regulates autophagy.

Multifunctional human transcriptional positive co-activator 4 (PC4) is a bona fide nonhistone component of the chromatin and plays a pivotal role in the process of chromatin compaction and functional genome organization. Knockdown of PC4 expression causes a drastic decompaction which leads to open conformation of the chromatin, and thereby altered nuclear architecture, defects in chromosome segregation and changed epigenetic landscape. Interestingly, these defects do not induce cellular death but result in enhanced cellular proliferation, possibly through enhanced autophagic activity. Moreover, PC4 depletion confers significant resistance to gamma irradiation. Exposure to gamma irradiation further induced autophagy in these cells. Inhibition of autophagy by small molecule inhibitors as well as by silencing of a critical autophagy gene drastically reduces the ability of PC4 knockdown cells to survive. On the contrary, complementation with wild-type PC4 could reverse this phenomenon, confirming the process of autophagy as the key mechanism for radiation resistance in the absence of PC4. These data connect the unexplored role of chromatin architecture in regulating autophagy during stress conditions such as radiation.

Actin cytoskeleton differentially alters the dynamics of lamin A, HP1α and H2B core histone proteins to remodel chromatin condensation state in living cells.

Cells in physical microenvironments regulate their functioning and geometry in response to mechanical stimuli. Recent studies have demonstrated the influence of the integrated actin cytoskeleton on nuclear integrity and chromatin organization. However, the mechanisms underlying the mechanotransduction of their physical coupling to nuclear protein dynamics are not well understood. In this study, we take advantage of micropatterned geometric substrates in NIH3T3 mouse fibroblasts to probe the functional influence of actin organization on nuclear lamina and chromatin assembly. Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy studies demonstrate that stabilization of perinuclear actin strengthens the transient interactions of lamin A with the chromatin. Correspondingly, fluorescence recovery after photobleaching studies reveal enhanced mobility of these nuclear lamina proteins when actin organization is perturbed. Combining these fluorescence dynamics assays, we also demonstrate an actin-driven differential modulation of core histone H2B and heterochromatin HP1α protein dynamics with chromatin. These altered dynamics are reflected structurally by concomitant changes in the architecture of the heterochromatin foci as seen by immunofluorescence assays. Taken together, our study provides a demonstration of the differential mechanical control of perinuclear actin on the dynamics of the nuclear lamina, euchromatin and heterochromatin regimes of the nucleus, and suggests an actin-mediated route to spatially and structurally tune chromatin organization and dynamics.

Regulation of nuclear morphology by actomyosin components and cell geometry.

Extracellular microenvironmental signals modulate the coupling between cytoskeleton to nuclear links to regulate gene expression profiles. However the influence of actomyosin assembly on the morphology of the nucleus is not well understood. In this paper, we quantitatively demonstrate the role of cell geometry and specific actomyosin molecular components in their control of nuclear morphology.

Cytoskeletal control of nuclear morphology and chromatin organization.

The nucleus is sculpted toward various morphologies during cellular differentiation and development. Alterations in nuclear shape often result in changes to chromatin organization and genome function. This is thought to be reflective of its role as a cellular mechanotransducer. Recent evidence has highlighted the importance of cytoskeletal organization in defining how nuclear morphology regulates chromatin dynamics. However, the mechanisms underlying cytoskeletal control of chromatin remodeling are not well understood. We demonstrate here the differential influence of perinuclear actin- and microtubule-driven assemblies on nuclear architecture using pharmacological inhibitors and targeted RNA interference knockdown of cytoskeleton components in Drosophila cells. We find evidence that the loss of perinuclear actin assembly results in basolateral enhancement of microtubule organization and this is reflected functionally by enhanced nuclear dynamics. Cytoskeleton reorganization leads to nuclear lamina deformation that influences heterochromatin localization and core histone protein mobility. We also show that modulations in actin-microtubule assembly result in differential gene expression patterns. Taken together, we suggest that perinuclear actin and basolateral microtubule organization exerts mechanical control on nuclear morphology and chromatin dynamics.

Integrin adhesion drives the emergent polarization of active cytoskeletal stresses to pattern cell delamination.

Tissue patterning relies on cellular reorganization through the interplay between signaling pathways and mechanical stresses. Their integration and spatiotemporal coordination remain poorly understood. Here we investigate the mechanisms driving the dynamics of cell delamination, diversely deployed to extrude dead cells or specify distinct cell fates. We show that a local mechanical stimulus (subcellular laser perturbation) releases cellular prestress and triggers cell delamination in the amnioserosa during Drosophila dorsal closure, which, like spontaneous delamination, results in the rearrangement of nearest neighbors around the delaminating cell into a rosette. We demonstrate that a sequence of "emergent cytoskeletal polarities" in the nearest neighbors (directed myosin flows, lamellipodial growth, polarized actomyosin collars, microtubule asters), triggered by the mechanical stimulus and dependent on integrin adhesion, generate active stresses that drive delamination. We interpret these patterns in the language of active gels as asters formed by active force dipoles involving surface and body stresses generated by each cell and liken delamination to mechanical yielding that ensues when these stresses exceed a threshold. We suggest that differential contributions of adhesion, cytoskeletal, and external stresses must underlie differences in spatial pattern.

Prestressed nuclear organization in living cells.

The nucleus is maintained in a prestressed state within eukaryotic cells, stabilized mechanically by chromatin structure and other nuclear components on its inside, and cytoskeletal components on its outside. Nuclear architecture is emerging to be critical to the governance of chromatin assembly, regulation of genome function and cellular homeostasis. Elucidating the prestressed organization of the nucleus is thus important to understand how the nuclear architecture impinges on its function. In this chapter, various chemical and mechanical methods have been described to probe the prestressed organization of the nucleus.