Recruitment of BAF to the nuclear envelope couples the LINC complex to endoreplication

Abstract

DNA endoreplication has been implicated as a cell strategy for cell growth and in tissue injury. Here, we demonstrate that barrier-to-autointegration factor (BAF) represses endoreplication in Drosophila myofibers. We show that BAF localization at the nuclear envelope is eliminated in flies with mutations of the linker of nucleoskeleton and cytoskeleton (LINC) complex in which the LEM-domain protein Otefin is excluded, or after disruption of the nucleus-sarcomere connections. Furthermore, BAF localization at the nuclear envelope requires the activity of the BAF kinase VRK1/Ball, and, consistently, non-phosphorylatable BAF-GFP is excluded from the nuclear envelope. Importantly, removal of BAF from the nuclear envelope correlates with increased DNA content in the myonuclei. E2F1, a key regulator of endoreplication, overlaps BAF localization at the myonuclear envelope, and BAF removal from the nuclear envelope results in increased E2F1 levels in the nucleoplasm and subsequent elevated DNA content. We suggest that LINC-dependent and phosphosensitive attachment of BAF to the nuclear envelope, through its binding to Otefin, tethers E2F1 to the nuclear envelope thus inhibiting its accumulation in the nucleoplasm.

Keywords: BAF; Endoreplication; LINC complex; Muscle; Nuclear envelope; Nuclear lamina.