Apoptosis-induced translocation of nesprin-2 from the nuclear envelope to mitochondria is associated with mitochondrial dysfunction

Accumulating evidence suggests that the nuclear envelope (NE) is not just a target, but also a mediator of apoptosis. We showed recently that the NE protein nesprin-2 has pro-apoptotic activity, which involves its subcellular redistribution and Bcl-2 proteins. Here we further characterize the pro-apoptotic activity of nesprin-2 focusing on its redistribution. We assessed the redistribution kinetics of endogenous nesprin-2 tagged with GFP relative to apoptosis-associated mitochondrial dysfunction. The results show apoptosis-induced GFP-nesprin-2G redistribution occurred by two different modes – complete and partial, both lead to appearance of nesprin-2G near the mitochondria. Moreover, GFP-nesprin-2 redistribution is associated with reduction in mitochondrial membrane potential and mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization and precedes the appearance of morphological features of apoptosis. Our results show that nesprin-2G redistribution and translocation near mitochondria is an early apoptotic effect associated with mitochondrial dysfunction, which may be responsible for the pro-apoptotic function of nesprin-2.