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The Molecular Composition and Function of the Nuclear Periphery and Its Impact on the Genome

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Nuclear Pore Complexes in Genome Organization, Function and Maintenance
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Abstract

The nuclear periphery is an essential element of nuclear architecture that contributes to the organization and function of the genome. Over the last few decades, remarkable molecular insight from many model systems has contributed to a dynamic and nuanced view of the nuclear periphery, which had previously been considered a static, transcriptionally-silent nuclear subcompartment. While modern genomic analyses have confirmed that the nuclear periphery is home to repetitive, gene-poor chromatin rich in repressive histone marks, specific genic regions either leave or associate with the nuclear periphery in response to external environmental or developmental inputs in a way that correlates with transcriptional output. Recently, work suggests surprisingly that transcription per se is not a determinant of gene position in relation to the nuclear periphery; an emerging view instead supports that peripheral tethering may reflect mechanisms to promote genome stability while being dispensable for gene silencing. Here, we review our current understanding of the molecular components that form the nuclear periphery, including integral inner nuclear membrane proteins and the nuclear lamins, while overviewing the key studies that are contributing to our evolving view of this important nuclear subcompartment.

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Correspondence to C. Patrick Lusk .

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Lusk, C.P., King, M.C. (2018). The Molecular Composition and Function of the Nuclear Periphery and Its Impact on the Genome. In: D’Angelo, M. (eds) Nuclear Pore Complexes in Genome Organization, Function and Maintenance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71614-5_2

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