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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Nov 1.
Published in final edited form as: Eur J Cell Biol. 2016 Jun 25;95(11):449–464. doi: 10.1016/j.ejcb.2016.06.007

Figure 1. Overview of nuclear envelope organization and lamin A/C functions.

Figure 1

The nuclear envelope (NE) consists of the outer nuclear membrane (ONM), inner nuclear membrane (INM), nuclear pore complexes (NPC), nuclear lamina, and additional proteins bound to the lamina and INM. The lamina is a meshwork of intermediate filaments beneath the INM composed of A-type and B-type lamins. Lamins can also localize to the nuclear interior (not depicted here). Lamin A/C performs many cellular functions, including providing physical stiffness to protect the nucleus and tethering chromatin into transcriptionally repressed regions at the nuclear periphery. The lamina and associated proteins can also form complexes with signalling molecules to influence nuclear accumulation, stability, and substrate engagement. The nucleus is connected to the cytoskeleton through the linker of nucleoskeleton and cytoskeleton (LINC) complex. The LINC complex is composed of Sad1 and UNC-84 (SUN) domain proteins in the INM that bind to Klarsicht, ANC-1, and Syne homology (KASH) domain proteins that span the ONM and connect to the cytoskeleton, facilitating nuclear positioning and mechanotransduction signalling.