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Fibrillarin, a nucleolar protein, is required for normal nuclear morphology and cellular growth in HeLa cells

2007; Elsevier BV; Volume: 360; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.bbrc.2007.06.092

1090-2104

Mohammed A. Amin, Sachihiro Matsunaga, Nan Ma, Hideaki Takata, Masami Yokoyama, Susumu Uchiyama, Kiichi Fukui,

Nuclear Structure and Function

Fibrillarin is a key small nucleolar protein in eukaryotes, which has an important role in pre-rRNA processing during ribosomal biogenesis. Though several functions of fibrillarin are known, its function during the cell cycle is still unknown. In this study, we confirmed the dynamic localization of fibrillarin during the cell cycle of HeLa cells and also performed functional studies by using a combination of immunofluorescence microscopy and RNAi technique. We observed that depletion of fibrillarin has almost no effect on the nucleolar structure. However, fibrillarin-depleted cells showed abnormal nuclear morphology. Moreover, fibrillarin depletion resulted in the reduction of the cellular growth and modest accumulation of cells with 4n DNA content. Our data suggest that fibrillarin would play a critical role in the maintenance of nuclear shape and cellular growth.