Multidisciplinary study of molecular mechanisms governing cellular organisation 

Abstract: Structural organisation of eukaryotic cell is fundamental in health and disease. The cells’ volume can be divided into two distinct regions: cytoplasm and nucleoplasm. Although the molecular tools that organise these two regions differ, the general principles are conserved. The cytoplasmic structure is established and maintained by the cytoskeleton, an explicitly located and oriented network of interlinked filaments. Motor proteins use this polarised filament network as molecular tracks to transport cargoes. Advanced cryo-EM imaging, biochemical reconstitution and single-molecule studies of large molecular machines transformed our understanding of cytoskeleton formation and its associated motility. The presence of an internal nucleoskeleton was demonstrated half a century ago and attributed to several filamentous proteins and non-coding RNA. Nonetheless, how the nucleoskeleton fills the interchromatin space and forms an interconnected network is not well elucidated. The multidisciplinary approach used to study cytoplasmic organisation was applied to shed light on the nuclear organisation. Analogous to the cytoskeleton, the nucleoskeleton network provides a pivotal role in the genome’s functional organisation and the mechanical support of the nucleus.