Chromosome detachment from the nuclear envelope is required for genomic stability in closed mitosis

Factors promoting nuclear envelope assembly independent of the canonical ESCRT pathway

The nuclear envelope (NE) undergoes dynamic remodeling to maintain NE integrity, a process involving the inner nuclear membrane protein LEM2 recruiting CHMP7/Cmp7 and then ESCRT-III. However, prior work has hinted at CHMP7/ESCRT-independent mechanisms. To identify such mechanisms, we studied NE assembly in Schizosaccharomyces japonicus, a fission yeast that undergoes partial mitotic NE breakdown and reassembly. S. japonicus cells lacking Cmp7 have compromised NE sealing after mitosis but are viable. A genetic screen identified mutations that promote NE integrity in cmp7Δ cells. Unexpectedly, loss of Lem2 or its interacting partner Nur1 suppressed cmp7Δ defects. In the absence of Cmp7, Lem2 formed aggregates that appear to interfere with ESCRT-independent NE sealing. A gain-of-function mutation implicated a membrane and ESCRT-III regulator, Alx1, in this alternate pathway. Additional results suggest a potentially general role for unsaturated fatty acids in NE integrity. These findings establish the existence of mechanisms for NE sealing independent of the canonical ESCRT pathway.

ESCRT-III/Vps4 Controls Heterochromatin-Nuclear Envelope Attachments

Eukaryotic genomes are organized within the nucleus through interactions with inner nuclear membrane (INM) proteins. How chromatin tethering to the INM is controlled in interphase and how this process contributes to subsequent mitotic nuclear envelope (NE) remodeling remains unclear. We have probed these fundamental questions using the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces japonicus, which breaks and reforms the NE during mitosis. We show that attachments between heterochromatin and the transmembrane Lem2-Nur1 complex at the INM are remodeled in interphase by the ESCRT-III/Vps4 machinery. Failure of ESCRT-III/Vps4 to release Lem2-Nur1 from heterochromatin leads to persistent association of chromosomes with the INM throughout mitosis. At mitotic exit, such trapping of Lem2-Nur1 on heterochromatin prevents it from re-establishing nucleocytoplasmic compartmentalization. Our work identifies the Lem2-Nur1 complex as a substrate for the nuclear ESCRT machinery and explains how the dynamic tethering of chromosomes to the INM is linked to the establishment of nuclear compartmentalization.