Fruit fly: novel method to study nuclear matrix

A group of researchers from CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad (CCMB) and Tata Institute for Genetics and Society, Bengaluru (TIGS), have established a way of studying the nuclear matrix of the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) without removing the nucleus from the embryo.

Nuclear Matrix:

• Every cell that makes up an organism contains a copy of its genome.
  • This genome is packaged in special ways with the help of a structure known as the nuclear matrix.
  • The nuclear matrix gives an organisation and architecture to the nucleus.
• The nuclear matrix is scaffolding that helps package the genome differently in different types of cells.
• Similar to cytoskeleton, the nuclear matrix largely provides mechanical support.
  • It includes the nuclear lamina, which is the dense fibrous network juxtaposes the nuclear envelope and continuous outside to the endoplasmic reticulum.
• There are two major components of the nuclear lamina:
  • intermediate filaments, particularly lamins and
  • nuclear lamin-associated membrane proteins
• The nuclear matrix is suggested to generally have the following components:
  • the residual elements of the nuclear envelope, i.e. the pore complex-lamina,
  • the residual nucleoli, and
  • a granular and fibrous matrix structure extending throughout the nucleus