Identification and characterization of a novel kind of nuclear protein occurring free in the nucleoplasm and in ribonucleoprotein structures of the "speckle" type.

We have identified, by cDNA cloning and immunodetection, a novel type of constitutive nuclear protein which occurs in diverse vertebrate species, from Xenopus laevis to man, in the form of two different gene products (79.1 kDa and 82.1 kDa in Xenopus, 81.6 kDa and 84.6 kDa in man), remarkably differing in pI (5.4-7.2). This type of protein is characterized by a carboxyterminal domain extremely rich in hydroxyamino acid residues, notably Ser (S), and tetrapeptide repeats of the type XSRS, and hence is termed "domain rich in serines" (DRS) protein. It has been immunolocalized exclusively in the cell nucleus such as in blood cell smears, cultured cells of very different origins and tissue sections, and has also been identified in Xenopus oocyte nuclei, both in sections and by biochemical methods in manually isolated nuclei. In many cell types the protein appears in two different physical states: (i) nuclear granules, identified as ribonucleoprotein (RNP) structures of the "speckle" category by colocalization and cofractionation with certain splicing factors and Sm-proteins, and (ii) in molecules diffusible throughout the nucleoplasm. During mitosis and also in meiosis (Xenopus eggs) the protein is transiently dispersed throughout the cytoplasm but rapidly reaccumulates into the reforming daughter-nuclei. In agreement with this, biochemical experiments have shown that during meiosis (eggs) the protein is recovered in a approximately 11-13S complex of the fraction of soluble cell components. We discuss general constitutive nuclear functions of this apparently ubiquitous and evolutionarily conserved protein.