High impact information on kuk

• The carboxyterminal CxxM motif is required for the targeting of Kugelkern to the inner nuclear membrane, where it colocalizes with lamins [1].
• Depending on the farnesylation motif, expression of kugelkern in Drosophila embryos or Xenopus cells induces overproliferation of nuclear membrane [1].
• New studies in Drosophila have identified a novel nuclear envelope protein with a farnesyl moiety, termed Kugelkern/Charleston, that helps regulate the size, shape and position of cellular blastoderm nuclei [2].
• The reduced nuclear size affects chromocenter formation as marked by Heterochromatin protein 1 and expression of a specific set of genes, including early zygotic genes. kugelkern contains a putative coiled-coil domain in the N-terminal half of the protein, a nuclear localization signal (NLS), and a C-terminal CxxM-motif [1].

Biological context of kuk

• CONCLUSIONS: Kugelkern is so far the first nuclear protein, except for lamins, that contains a farnesylation site [1].

References