Whole-genome screening identifies proteins localized to distinct nuclear bodies.

Abstract

The nucleus is a unique organelle that contains essential genetic materials in chromosome territories. The interchromatin space is composed of nuclear subcompartments, which are defined by several distinctive nuclear bodies believed to be factories of DNA or RNA processing and sites of transcriptional and/or posttranscriptional regulation. In this paper, we performed a genome-wide microscopy-based screening for proteins that form nuclear foci and characterized their localizations using markers of known nuclear bodies. In total, we identified 325 proteins localized to distinct nuclear bodies, including nucleoli (148), promyelocytic leukemia nuclear bodies (38), nuclear speckles (27), paraspeckles (24), Cajal bodies (17), Sam68 nuclear bodies (5), Polycomb bodies (2), and uncharacterized nuclear bodies (64). Functional validation revealed several proteins potentially involved in the assembly of Cajal bodies and paraspeckles. Together, these data establish the first atlas of human proteins in different nuclear bodies and provide key information for research on nuclear bodies.