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Review
. 2010 Jul;2(7):a000653.
doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a000653. Epub 2010 May 26.

The Cajal body and histone locus body

Zehra Nizami  1 , Svetlana Deryusheva, Joseph G Gall
Affiliations
Review

The Cajal body and histone locus body

Zehra Nizami et al. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol. 2010 Jul.

Abstract

The Cajal body (CB) is a nuclear organelle present in all eukaryotes that have been carefully studied. It is identified by the signature protein coilin and by CB-specific RNAs (scaRNAs). CBs contain high concentrations of splicing small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs) and other RNA processing factors, suggesting that they are sites for assembly and/or posttranscriptional modification of the splicing machinery of the nucleus. The histone locus body (HLB) contains factors required for processing histone pre-mRNAs. As its name implies, the HLB is associated with the genes that code for histones, suggesting that it may function to concentrate processing factors at their site of action. CBs and HLBs are present throughout the interphase of the cell cycle, but disappear during mitosis. The biogenesis of CBs shows the features of a self-organizing structure.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
CBs in a HeLa cell nucleus. (A) DIC image showing four prominent nucleoli and three faintly detectable CBs (arrowheads). (B) The same nucleus immunostained with antibodies against coilin (green) and fibrillarin (red). The three CBs in this nucleus appear yellow because they stain with both antibodies. The nucleoli stain only for fibrillarin. Fibrillarin is the methyltransferase for 2′-O-methylation of rRNA in the nucleoli and snRNAs in the CBs. Modified from Gall (2003) with permission from Nature Reviews. Bar = 10 µm.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
A cell from a protoplast of Arabidopsis after transfection with a construct of U2B″-mRFP, a component of the U2 snRNP that is enriched in the CB. (A) Fluorescence image showing two brightly labeled CBs in the nucleus. Each is associated with a large, unstained nucleolus. (B) DIC image of the same cells. The nucleoli are now visible (arrowheads) but the CBs are not. Bar = 10 µm. Image kindly provided by Zdravko Lorkovic, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Malpighian tubule nuclei of Drosophila after fluorescent in situ hybridization (A and B) or immunostaining (C and D) for CB components. (A) A nucleus from a wild type fly showing two CBs. The CBs appear yellow because they contain both U85 scaRNA (red) and U5 snRNA (green). There is a high level of U5 throughout the nucleoplasm. (B) A nucleus from a coilin-null fly hybridized as in A. A CB is no longer detectable, although U5 label in the nucleoplasm is unaffected. (C) A nucleus from a wild type fly showing a CB immunostained for symmetric dimethylarginine, a marker for snRNP proteins (green), and an HLB labeled for Lsm11, a component of the U7 snRNP (red). (D) A nucleus from a coilin-null fly labeled as in C. A CB is no longer detectable, but the HLB is apparently unaffected. Modified from Liu et al. (2009) with permission from Molecular Biology of the Cell. Bar = 10 µm in A and B, 5 µm in C and D.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
CBs and HLBs in Drosophila. (A) Each nucleus of the ejaculatory duct of the male fly usually has a single CB, immunostained green with an antibody against coilin, and a single HLB, immunostained red with an antibody against Lsm11. Often the two bodies are close to one another or touching. Bar = 5 µm. (B and C) In Drosophila and many other insects, highly polyploid nurse cells supply proteins and RNAs to the transcriptionally silent oocyte. Their nuclei display prominent CBs and HLBs, here shown after double in situ hybridization for U85 scaRNA (red) and U7 snRNA (green). (B) shows a stage 8 egg chamber of a wild type fly. C shows the same stage from a coilin-null fly. CBs are not detectable in the mutant, whereas HLBs appear unaffected. Bar = 5 µm. (D–F) Nurse cell nuclei from a stage 11 egg chamber showing prominent HLBs that contain coilin. Immunostained with antibodies against Lsm11 (D, red) and coilin (E, green). The overlay in F shows colocalization of Lsm11 and coilin. Modified from Liu et al. (2009) with permission from Molecular Biology of the Cell. Bar = 20 µm.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
A single large nuclear body from a Xenopus germinal vesicle after immunostaining for coilin (green) and trimethylguanosine (red). Because of their high concentration of coilin, these bodies have been described as CBs. However, they contain the U7 snRNP and some are attached to the histone gene loci, making them HLBs by definition. (A) DIC image showing one speckle inside the CB/HLB and three speckles attached to its periphery. The irregular object to the lower left is an extrachromosomal nucleolus. (B) Green channel, showing that coilin is limited to the CB/HLB, being absent from the speckles. (C) Red channel showing trimethylguanosine at high concentration in the CB/HLB and lower concentration in the speckles. (D) Overlay of B and C. Although trimethylguanosine occurs in the nucleolus (caps on U3 and U8 snoRNAs), its concentration is too low to detect in this image. Modified from Bellini and Gall (1998) with permission from Molecular Biology of the Cell. Bar = 5 µm.
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