NIR is a nucleolar RNA-binding protein that is involved in cell proliferation

Abstract

A novel inhibitor of histone acetyltransferase repressor (NIR) is a histone acetylation inhibitor that associates with p53, p63 and histone complexes. Staining with anti-NIR antibodies revealed that the protein is localized at the nucleolus. The nucleolar localization of NIR was lost upon RNase treatment, whereas its localization was unaffected by treatment with DNase. These results indicate that NIR directly or indirectly binds RNA in the nucleolus. The expression of NIR protein was higher in cancer cell lines than in non-cancer cell lines. The proliferation rate of human embryonic kidney 293T cells was higher following the ectopic expression of NIR than following the ectopic expression of green fluorescent protein (GFP). In summary, NIR is an RNA-associated protein that is involved in the cell proliferation regulation.

Keywords

• cell cycle
• cell proliferation
• NIR
• nucleolus
• RNA-binding protein