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Actin up in the nucleus

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 5, pages 410–415 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Scepticism regarding the existence of actin in the nucleus is finally giving way to the productive investigation of its functional roles. The identification of actin in several nuclear complexes implicates it in diverse nuclear activities including transcription, chromatin remodelling and nucleocytoplasmic trafficking. A major challenge is that actin does not seem to form large filamentous structures in the nucleus and might adopt unique conformations, the elucidation of which would greatly assist our understanding of its functions.

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Figure 1: Functions of actin in the nucleus.
Figure 2: Possible forms of nuclear actin.

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Acknowledgements

We apologize to those whose research was not referenced owing to space limitations. We thank J. Gall, K. Wilson, S. Krauss and T. Misteli for their helpful criticism of the manuscript. B.T.B. and D.C.A. are supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and D.M.G. is supported by grants from the NIH, the National Science Foundation and the American Cancer Society.

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  1. the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, SUNY Upstate Medical University, 750 East Adams Street, Syracuse, 13210, New York, USA

    Blaine T. Bettinger, David M. Gilbert & David C. Amberg

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  1. Blaine T. Bettinger
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Correspondence to David C. Amberg.

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DATABASES

Entrez

hrp36

hrp65

importin-β

LocusLink

cofilin

EAST

exportin-6

lamin

profilin

SwissProt

CRM1

eIF5a

hnRNP C

protein 4.1

NDHII

FURTHER INFORMATION

David C. Amberg's laboratory

David M. Gilbert's laboratory

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Bettinger, B., Gilbert, D. & Amberg, D. Actin up in the nucleus. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 5, 410–415 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm1370

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