Laminopathies: what can humans learn from fruit flies.

Lamin proteins are type V intermediate filament proteins (IFs) located inside the cell nucleus. They are evolutionarily conserved and have similar domain organization and properties to cytoplasmic IFs. Lamins provide a skeletal network for chromatin, the nuclear envelope, nuclear pore complexes and the entire nucleus.

Embryonic and adult isoforms of XLAP2 form microdomains associated with chromatin and the nuclear envelope.

Laminin-associated polypeptide 2 (LAP2) proteins are alternatively spliced products of a single gene; they belong to the LEM domain family and, in mammals, locate to the nuclear envelope (NE) and nuclear lamina. Isoforms lacking the transmembrane domain also locate to the nucleoplasm. We used new specific antibodies against the N-terminal domain of Xenopus LAP2 to perform immunoprecipitation, identification and localization studies during Xenopus development.