Open AccessAdvances in the study of the nucleolus
Author(s) -
JiaXun Feng,
Jun Sun,
Jian-Fan Wen
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
dongwuxue yanjiu
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 0254-5853
DOI - 10.3724/sp.j.1141.2012.06549
Subject(s) - nucleolus , ribosome biogenesis , biology , ribosome , proteome , biogenesis , proteomics , computational biology , ribosomal rna , ribosomal protein , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , rna , nucleus , gene
As the most prominent sub-nuclear compartment in the interphase nucleus and the site of ribosome biogenesis, the nucleolus synthesizes and processes rRNA and also assembles ribosomal subunits. Though several lines of research in recent years have indicated that the nucleolus might have additional functions-such as the assembling of signal recognition particles, the processing of mRNA, tRNA and telomerase activities, and regulating the cell cycle-proteomic analyses of the nucleolus in three representative eukaryotic species has shown that a plethora of proteins either have no association with ribosome biogenesis or are of presently unknown function. This phenomenon further indicates that the composition and function of the nucleolus is far more complicated than previously thought. Meanwhile, the available nucleolar proteome databases has provided new approaches and led to remarkable progress in understanding the nucleolus. Here, we have summarized recent advances in the study of the nucleolus, including new discoveries of its structure, function, genomics/proteomics as well as its origin and evolution. Moreover, we highlight several of the important unresolved issues in this field.