Probing PML body function in ALT cells reveals spatiotemporal requirements for telomere recombination.

ABSTRACT: Promyelocytic leukemia (PML) bodies (also called ND10) are dynamic nuclear structures implicated in a wide variety of cellular processes. ALT-associated PML bodies (APBs) are specialized PML bodies found exclusively in telomerase-negative tumors in which telomeres are maintained by recombination-based alternative (ALT) mechanisms. Although it has been suggested that APBs are directly implicated in telomere metabolism of ALT cells, their precise role and structure have remained elusive. Here we show that PML bodies in ALT cells associate with chromosome ends forming small, spatially well-defined clusters, containing on average 2-5 telomeres. Using an innovative approach that gently enlarges PML bodies in living cells while retaining their overall organization, we show that this physical enl

SUBMITTER: Draskovic I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2747187 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature