Subgroup I

Subgroup I: The Many Functions of Cytoskeletal Proteins in the Cell Nucleus

Saturday, December 8, 8:30 am-12:30 pm
Room: 31C

Organizers: Piergiorgio Percipalle, New York University Abu Dhabi; and Maria Vartiainen, Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki

The emerging role of cytoskeletal proteins in the cell nucleus has become a new frontier in cell biology. Actin and actin-binding proteins regulate chromatin and gene expression, but importantly they are beginning to be essential players in genome organization in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. These global actin-based functions contribute to genome stability and integrity while affecting DNA replication and global transcription patterns. This is likely to occur through interactions of actin with nuclear components including nuclear lamina and subnuclear organelles. An exciting future challenge is to understand how these actin-based genome-wide mechanisms may regulate development and differentiation by interfering with the mechanical properties of the cell nucleus and how regulated actin polymerization plays a role in maintaining nuclear architecture. This session will bring together scientists from different angles and disciplines to discuss and elucidate—possibly through unpublished, ongoing work—how cytoskeletal proteins act to consolidate nuclear architecture for sustained gene expression or silencing during the acquisition of cellular identity.

Presentations:

8.30 am                     Introduction. Piergiorgio Percipalle, New York University Abu Dhabi, and Maria Vartiainen, Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki

8.35 am                     Functional interactions between actin, ARPs and chromatin. Masahiko Harata,Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan

8.55 am                     Function of nuclear actin in genome stability, Kenji Shimada, Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Basel

9.15 am                     Nuclear actin in chromatin organization and nuclear reprogramming. Piergiorgio Percipalle, New York University Abu Dhabi

9.35 am                     Actin polymerization in reprogramming nuclear structures. Kei Miyamoto, Kindai University

9.55 am                     Actin’ on transcription. Maria Vartiainen, University of Helsinki

10.15 am                   Nuclear WASp regulates transcription networks in developing T cells by interaction with TCF1. Lisa Westerberg Karolinska Institute

Break

10.55 am                   Generation of DNA repair domains. Jean Gautier, Columbia University

11.15 am                   Highways for repair: nuclear F-actin and myosins drive relocalization of heterochromatic DNA damages. Irene Chiolo, University of Southern California, Los Angeles

11.45 am                   Exploring the world of nuclear actin and actin PTMs. Xuetong Shen, MD Anderson Cancer Center

12.05 pm                   Viral mobilization of nuclear actin, Matthew Welch, University of California, Berkeley

12.25 pm                   Concluding Remarks

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