We have found that the process of nucleolar segregation caused by the transcriptional arrest of RNA polymerases I and II was accompanied by the sorting and rearranging of nuclear proteins and RNAs into defined nuclear subdomains. The course of events was a dynamic and specific process, encompassing many major players that define intranuclear structure. Several main themes of nuclear rearrangement were observed: 1) the segregation of the three defining regions of the nucleolus (FC, DFC, GC) into three distinct but juxtaposed domains that retain many of their original protein and RNA components and that are termed nucleolar caps and central body, 2) this segregation is accompanied by the release of several GC proteins into the nucleoplasm, 3) the disassembly of nuclear bodies such as Cajal bodies, SMN bodies, and PML bodies and the relocation of their protein and RNA components to discrete nucleolar caps, 4) the formation of a large heterochromatin domain surrounding the segregated nucleolus, 5) the influx of a significant number of nucleoplasmic proteins, many of which are RNA binding proteins, into large nucleolar caps, whereas 6) most nucleoplasmic proteins and nuclear speckle proteins retained their localization.
The nucleolus is sensitive to the transcriptional profile of the cell, and the status of transcriptional activity is reflected in nucleolar structure. Nucleolar segregation and capping is a normal cellular process occurring under physiological circumstances that involve transcriptional shut down (
Smetana and Busch, 1974 
) and can be mimicked by drug-induced transcriptional arrest (
Bernhard and Granboulan, 1968 
;
Zinszner et al., 1997 
;
Dousset et al., 2000 
;
Andersen et al., 2002 
;
Fox et al., 2002 
;
Ospina and Matera, 2002 
). In the developing
Xenopus oocyte dramatic changes in nucleolar structure were observed, which included a stage of nucleolar segregation and cap formation reminiscent of ActD treatment (
Van Gansen and Schram, 1972 
). During ovulation of
Xenopus eggs, nucleoli disappear and transcription is shut off, later to return in the embryo. In the procedure of nuclear cloning, nuclei from somatic cells are injected into interphase eggs and the somatic nucleoli are then found to segregate and finally disassemble (
Gonda et al., 2003 
). This process is triggered by two germ cell proteins FRGY2a and FRGY2b and is independent of rRNA transcription. Other natural instances of segregation and capping occur in oocytes (
Mirre et al., 1980 
;
Crozet et al., 1981 
), spermatocytes (
Stahl et al., 1991 
), developing embryos (
Hyttel et al., 2000 
), hepatocytes (
Reddy and Svoboda, 1972 
), keratinocytes (
Karasek et al., 1972 
), mycoplasma infection (
Jezequel et al., 1967 
), and certain diseases (
Karasek et al., 1970 
;
Smetana et al., 1972 
). Nucleolar capping of p80 coilin naturally occurs in normal mouse tissues (
Tucker et al., 2001 
) and in neuronal cells (
Raska et al., 1990 
;
Carmo-Fonseca et al., 1993 
;
Janevski et al., 1997 
).
The study of electron micrographs of transcriptionally arrested cells in the 1960s lead to the simple assumption that the material found in nucleolar caps originated from the segregation of granular and fibrillar components of the nucleolus. Yet, one study noted that the granular material of P
2 (concave) caps observed by TEM was not found in untreated nucleoli (
Recher et al., 1971 
). In other studies, nucleoplasmic splicing factors were found associated with segregated nucleoli of hibernating rodents (
Malatesta et al., 2000 
) and SR proteins were transiently associated with the nucleolus after mitosis (
Bubulya et al., 2004 
). Our study shows that DNCs consisted mainly of nucleoplasmic proteins, whereas LNCs and fibrillar caps evolved from nucleolar proteins. A few RNA-binding nucleoplasmic proteins that were found in nucleolar caps have been detected in the nucleolus by proteomic analysis: PSF, p54
nrb, hnRNP K, hnRNP H, and SF2/ASF (
Andersen et al., 2002 
;
Scherl et al., 2002 
). However, these proteins are normally found in the nucleoplasm and are excluded from the nucleolus as observed either by immunofluorescent stainings or GFP tagging. Interestingly, a kinetic proteomic analysis has shown PSF to be one of the highly enriched proteins in the nucleolus during ActD treatment (
Andersen et al., 2005 
). In the case of PSF, GFP-PSF constructs showed that the C-terminal half of the protein is important for the localization in caps. This property was independent of the two RRMs in this region. From analyzing constructs of the C-terminus we conclude that the middle part of the C-terminal half of PSF is required for this localization. The C-terminus is homologous to p54
nrb, the heterodimer of PSF, which also translocated to DNCs. Alignment of amino acid sequences of DNC proteins did not reveal any “cap localization signals,” although most of these proteins contain RNA-binding domains such as RRMs or RGG boxes, shown to be the most highly abundant motifs in proteins identified in the nucleolar proteome (
Leung et al., 2003 
). Yet, these motifs are probably not sufficient for nucleolar cap targeting because other proteins tested, which also contain RRM or RGG boxes, were not localized to nucleolar caps (). The unexpected finding that nucleolar pre-rRNA was preferentially detected in the DNCs that harbored mainly nucleoplasmic proteins still implies that the localization of nucleoplasmic RNA-binding proteins to DNCs was a consequence of the RNA-binding properties of these proteins. FRAP experiments revealed that these structures were not static depots of proteins but were highly dynamic structures in constant exchange with the nucleoplasm, complementary to FRAP experiments performed in transcriptionally active cells (
Janicki and Spector, 2003 
).
Our data strongly suggest that nucleolar segregation is part of a general concerted process of nuclear rearrangement taking place during transcriptional shut down and comprises both preexisting protein-RNA interactions and newly established interactions. For example, we have detected a trend in the association of nuclear body proteins with the segregated nucleolus. Components of SMN bodies have been shown to transiently pass through nucleolar caps (
Pellizzoni et al., 2001 
). p80 coilin from Cajal bodies was found on the peripheral part of nucleolar caps that contain fibrillarin, which is also, in part, a Cajal body component. Nucleolar and Cajal body RNAs were also found to closely segregate during ActD treatment. A Cajal body scaRNA was found, as described above for p80 coilin, to be peripherally situated on fibrillarin. Small nucleolar RNAs were found in fibrillarin containing LNCs. We also detected a novel nucleolar cap to which a portion of PML and Sp100 proteins localized that were distinct from DNCs, LNCs, or fibrillar caps. PML caps were usually the smallest of the above and formed on top or in between the other caps. Interestingly, a different pathway of cellular stress involving the inhibition of proteosome action caused PML and Sp100 to relocalize inside the nucleolus (
Mattsson et al., 2001 
). PML translocated to the nucleolar periphery also in response to DNA damage and colocalized there with Mdm2, but in an ARF-independent manner (
Bernardi et al., 2004 
). Another study has shown that a variety of stress responses activating the p53 pathway affect nucleolar integrity (
Rubbi and Milner, 2003 
). The nucleolus therefore probably plays an important role in sensing these stresses (
Olson, 2004a 
) and can act as a docking site for many proteins released from disrupted structures and complexes.
The central body, on which nucleolar caps are formed, is an intriguing structure. It was assumed to originate from the GC region of the nucleolus. MRP RNA was detected in the central body, whereas RNase P RNA was not. Although different in sequence, these RNAs are structurally similar, whereas MRP is involved in cleavage and maturation of the precursor rRNA and RNase P acts in the processing of pre-tRNA (
van Eenennaam et al., 2000 
). However, under these conditions MRP RNA and rRNAs were segregated in distinct compartments. As for the protein composition of the central body, we could only detect p14(ARF) in the central body, whereas proteins found in the GC such as nucleophosmin and nucleolin dispersed throughout the nucleoplasm. FRAP experiments showed that p14(ARF) had the slowest recovery rates in comparison to the other nucleolar proteins tested, fibrillarin and Nopp140. These rates all differed from the nuclear mobility of PSF in DNCs, which was comparable to its mobility in the nucleoplasm of untreated cells and did not show a fixed fraction. Moreover, most of p14(ARF) protein was not dynamic as observed by the increase in the immobile fraction from 35 to 65%. This might indicate that p14(ARF) has a function in retaining the structural integrity of nucleolus.
Our study shows that the process of nucleolar segregation and capping is an active process that requires active metabolism of the cell. However, it does not require active protein synthesis (
Goldblatt et al., 1970 
). The addition of metabolic inhibitors to cells being treated with ActD hindered the formation of nucleolar caps. The energy source required for nucleolar cap formation was not in the form of amino acids, proteins, or growth factors but was carbohydrate based. We found that the addition of pyruvate (citric acid cycle) but not glucose (glycolysis) to minimal medium could lead to the formation of caps, although this was probably not the only requisite. Because pyruvate is the end product of glycolysis, it is possible that ActD is also inhibiting a certain step in this process, as previously suggested (
Laszlo et al., 1966 
). Pyruvate is also the input molecule for the citric acid cycle and oxidative phosphorylation, the main producers of cellular energy in the form of ATP and GTP. Azide is a metabolic poison that blocks oxidative phosphorylation in the mitochondria, the organelle in which pyruvate is metabolized. It was described for the TLS protein (DNC) that its entrance into nucleolar caps is an active process requiring the integrity of the Ran/TC4-RCC1 nuclear transport cycle (
Zinszner et al., 1997 
) and that the drug-induced translocation of nucleophosmin from nucleoli to the nucleoplasm requires ATP (
Wu et al., 1995 
;
Finch and Chan, 1996 
). These findings indicate that the relocalization and nucleolar capping of nuclear proteins is not just a byproduct of transcriptional arrest but actually an active mechanism driving the reshaping of nuclear compartments.
Although the physiological significance of nucleolar segregation and capping is unclear, a correlation between reduction in RNA transcription and the formation of these structures can be drawn, especially during differentiation and development. In the normal situation, much of the nuclear activity is devoted to transcription. In active cells, transcriptional and posttranscriptional components are in equilibrium; being recruited to DNA or to nascent mRNA transcripts, respectively. Under ActD-induced transcriptional arrest, the RNA polymerase II complexes are blocked during the elongation process, thus titrating one fraction of the transcription machinery to the DNA. Because mRNA production has ceased, there exists an excess pool of free posttranscriptional factors. In conjunction, in the nucleolus, separation of the RNA polymerase I transcription machinery from the rRNA occurs. The observed clustering of nucleoplasmic RNA-binding proteins, in part of the segregated nucleolus that contains pre-rRNA, could be the result of the high abundance of these proteins and the existence of newly exposed RNA partners. A recent study showed that during telophase, as RNA pol I activity in nucleolar NORs resumed, nucleoplasmic SR-splicing factors become transiently associated with the NORs (
Bubulya et al., 2004 
). The interactions we observe have specificity, as only a subset of nucleoplasmic RNA-binding proteins relocalize to these regions and may reflect some of the protein complexes present in transcriptionally active cells. Taken together, these data argue for an additional pathway that RNA-binding proteins can take when RNA pol II transcription is arrested. It has been suggested that nuclear organization is driven by the state of gene expression in the cell (
Singer and Green, 1997 
) and our data support this notion. Because nucleolar segregation can occur under physiological states and can be followed by nucleolar reassembly, it stands to reason that the nucleus evolved a mechanism that uniquely redistributes specific nuclear components during transcriptional arrest, while simultaneously up keeping certain basic interactions. Such a mechanism would provide the flexibility required for responding to metabolic cues and would maintain a certain degree of structure necessary for the efficient reassembly once the transcriptional status of the cell changes.