Importancia de la metilación y sumoilación de la coilina y del factor de supervivencia de las motoneuronas en el ensamblaje del cuerpo nuclear de Cajal

Zusammenfassung

Cajal bodies (CBs) are nuclear structures involved in the biogenesis of small nuclear and nucleolar ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs and snoRNPs) required for nuclear processing of pre-mRNAs and pre-rRNAs, respectively. CBs concentrate the protein coilin, a molecular marker of this structure, snRNPs, the survival of motor neurons factor (SMN) and proteins shared with the nucleolus Nopp140 and fibrillarin. CBs are transcription-dependent structures, but the mechanisms of molecular assembly of these structures are poorly understood. In this study we used inmunofluorescence, ectopic expresion of CB proteins and biochemical methods to analyze the importance of two posttranslational modifications, methylation of coilin and conjugation of SMN with SUMO1, for the molecular assembly of CBs. The cell line MCF7 has been used as a model of endogenous hypomethylation due to the lack of MTAP gene. Coilin hypomethylation leads to the disassembly of CBs and nucleolar relocation of unmethylated coilin. This effect reverses in transfected cells expressing the gene MTAPwt, indicating that the degree of methylation of coilin directs its nuclear destination. On the importance of sumoylation in the assembly of CBs, we have demonstrated the existence of a subset of CBs which concentrate SUMO1 and the SUMO1 conjugase Ubc9. In neurons, we detected the presence of SUMO1 during the reformation of CBs in response to stress. Immunoprecipitation experiments confirm the molecular interaction of SUMO1 with SMN and demonstrate that lysine 119, carrying the SMN sumoylation consensus sequence, is essential for regulating the number of CBs.