Promyelocytic leukaemia (PML) bodies are chromatin-associated sites of DNA metabolism present in the nuclei of mammalian cells. For much of the cell cycle, PML bodies are stable but David Bazett-Jones and his team now describe how they change during early S phase, mitosis and early G1 phase. On p. 1026, the authors show that PML bodies become distorted and undergo fission to form microbodies as cells enter S phase. Noting that PML bodies remain associated with chromatin and double in number during S phase, the authors suggest these alterations in their behaviour reflect changes in the topology of DNA as it replicates. On p. 1034, the authors go on to investigate the biochemical and morphological changes in PML bodies during mitosis. They find that the PML protein that defines these structures is recycled from one cell cycle to the next via chromatin-associated and freely diffusing mitotic accumulations of PML protein (MAPPs) - structures that contain the PML protein but lack several PML body components. The authors propose that, in early G1 phase, chromatin-associated MAPPs provide a seed for the reformation of PML nuclear bodies through the redistribution of PML protein from cytoplasmic MAPPs. They suggest that other nuclear bodies may use a similar mechanism to partition during mitosis.
PML's out-of-body experience
PML's out-of-body experience. J Cell Sci 15 March 2006; 119 (6): e604. doi:
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