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Nucleokinesis illuminated

Nature Neuroscience volume 7, pages 1169–1170 (2004)Cite this article

Newborn neurons in the cerebellum migrate along radial glial processes through a series of distinct steps. A report in this issue uses live imaging to grant us a close-up view of the cytoskeletal structures and regulating proteins involved in this migration.

Cortical neurons in the brain reach their final position through a highly organized migration in either the radial (from ventricular to pial surface) or tangential (parallel to the ventricular surface) direction1. Most radially migrating neurons move along the processes of radial glia cells through a series of sequential steps. They first extend a leading process in the direction of migration, which is followed by 'nucleokinesis', the saltatory forward movement of the nucleus into the leading process. Nucleokinesis critically depends on the microtubule network of the migrating neuron2. Microtubule-dependent nuclear positioning also occurs in many other cell types and cellular processes, including developing photoreceptors of the Drosophila melanogaster eye3 and P-cell migration in Caenorhabditis elegans4, and often depends on an interaction of the microtubule organizing center (MTOC) with the nucleus5. In neurons, disruption of nuclear translocation leads to defects in neuronal migration6,7,8. There is also strong evidence for an essential interaction between the centrosome (MTOC) and nucleus during nucleokinesis, mediated by a specialized network of perinuclear microtubules. Most studies that have described these microtubules in neurons have used static imaging6,8,9, so knowledge of perinuclear microtubule dynamics during migration has been limited. In this issue, Hatten and colleagues make a substantial contribution to the understanding of the cell biology of nuclear translocation by developing a system to image the cytoskeleton in migrating neurons10.

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Figure 1: Function of the perinuclear cage in nucleokinesis.

Annette Markus

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology at Harvard Medical School, the Program in Neuroscience at Harvard University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston, 02115, Massachusetts, USA

    Benjamin Adam Samuels & Li-Huei Tsai

Authors
  1. Benjamin Adam Samuels
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  2. Li-Huei Tsai
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Samuels, B., Tsai, LH. Nucleokinesis illuminated. Nat Neurosci 7, 1169–1170 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1104-1169

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