The N-terminal Domain Anchors Human Topoisomerase I at Fibrillar Centers of Nucleoli and Nucleolar Organizer Regions of Mitotic Chromosomes

DNA topoisomerase I releases torsion stress created by DNA transcription. In principle, this activity is required in the nucleoplasm for mRNA synthesis and in the nucleoli for rRNA synthesis. Yet, topoisomerase I is mostly a nucleolar protein. Current belief holds that this preference is triggered b...

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Veröffentlicht in:The Journal of biological chemistry 2002-09, Vol.277 (39), p.35932-35938
Hauptverfasser: Christensen, Morten O., Barthelmes, Hans U., Boege, Fritz, Mielke, Christian
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Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:DNA topoisomerase I releases torsion stress created by DNA transcription. In principle, this activity is required in the nucleoplasm for mRNA synthesis and in the nucleoli for rRNA synthesis. Yet, topoisomerase I is mostly a nucleolar protein. Current belief holds that this preference is triggered by the N-terminal domain of the enzyme, which constitutes a nucleolar import signal. Contradicting this view, we show here that nucleolar accumulation of various fragments of topoisomerase I is correlated with their lesser mobility in this compartment and not with the N-terminal domain being intact or present. Therefore, the N-terminal domain is not likely a nucleolar import signal. We show that it rather serves as an adaptor that anchors a subpopulation of topoisomerase I at fibrillar centers of nucleoli and nucleolar organizer regions of mitotic chromosomes. Thus, it provides a steady association of topoisomerase I with the rDNA and with RNA polymerase I, which is maintained in a living cell during the entire cell cycle.
ISSN:0021-9258
1083-351X
DOI:10.1074/jbc.M204738200