Ricerc@Sapienza

The nuclear envelope compartmentalizes chromatin in eukaryotic cells. The main nuclear envelope components are lamins that associate with a panoply of factors, including the LEM domain
proteins. The nuclear envelope of mammalian cells opens up during cell division. It is reassembled
and associated with chromatin at the end of mitosis when telomeres tether to the nuclear
periphery. Lamins, LEM domain proteins, and DNA binding factors, as BAF, contribute to the
reorganization of chromatin. In this context, an emerging role is that of the ESCRT complex, a

Moonlighting proteins can perform one or more additional functions besides their primary role. It has been posited that a protein can acquire a moonlighting function through a gradual evolutionary process, which is favored when the primary and secondary functions are exerted in different cellular compartments. Transcription factors (TFs) and splicing factors (SFs) control processes that occur in interphase nuclei and are strongly reduced during cell division, and are therefore in a favorable situation to evolve moonlighting mitotic functions.