Finding the Missing KASH

The nucleus holds and protects the genetic information of a cell. Nuclear positioning is correlated with several important cellular processes, such as cell division, migration and differentiation, and it is essential to the development of organisms ranging from worms to positioning is mediated through a protein complex across the nuclear envelope (NE), formed by the outer nuclear membrane (ONM) KASH proteins and the inner nuclear membrane (INM) Shanahan). The cytoplasmic part of KASH proteins is associated with the cytoskeleton, and the nucleoplasmic part of SUN proteins is associated with the nucleoskeleton. Meanwhile, in the perinuclear space (PNS), the C-terminal tail of KASH proteins interacts with the SUN domain of SUN proteins. Therefore, KASH-SUN complexes are linkers of the nucleoskeleton to the cytoskeleton (LINC). LINC is conserved from yeasts to humans (Starr and Fridolfsson). However, in plants, only SUN proteins have been identified, leaving plant KASH proteins and the functions of plant SUN proteins a mystery (Graumann, Runions and Evans; Moriguchi et al.;