Promyelocytic leukaemia nuclear bodies (PML NBs) are found within the nucleus of
mammalian cells. Numbering between 10 and 30 per nucleus, they are an obvious
feature of the nuclear landscape, yet their functions have still to be unambiguously
defined. In the mammalian nucleus, compartmentalization of functions is apparent, as
reflected in the wide-range of other nuclear compartments that can be identified.
Quantification of relationships between PML NBs and other nuclear functional
compartments is essential for a complete understanding of PML NB function. Initially,
PML size, number, distance relationships, and spatial organisation in relation to each
other, and the nuclear boundary and centroid, under the spatial point pattern theory
hypothesis of Complete Spatial Randomness (CSR), were investigated in both normal
and SV40 transformed MRC5 and WI38 human foetal lung fibroblasts. This was also
completed in normal MRC5 cells treated with heat shock, and interferon β (both of
which alter PML NB morphometrics), and also serum starvation. PML NBs appeared to
locate according to CSR with respect to each other, and inter – PML distances were
dependent upon median PML NB number per nucleus. PML NBs did not tend to
associate with the nuclear centroid, and were repelled from the nuclear boundary in all
cell lines and conditions. The distance and spatial organisation relationships between
PML NBs and eleven different nuclear compartments were also compared and
contrasted in the cell lines and conditions mentioned previously. PML NBs were shown
to share strong distance and spatial organisation relationships with the 11S
immunoproteasome regulator, SC35 domains,
and transcriptional compartments in
normal asynchronous nuclei, and with telomeres in transformed cells, highlighting likely
functions for the bodies. Lastly, the three dimensional spatial preference of functional
compartments in the nucleus was determined using an aggregate map, which provided a
novel means to visualise the nuclear location of functional compartments in relation to
each other, and under different cellular conditions. Spatial preference fell into four
categories: 1) diffuse, 2) annular, 3) core, and 4) polar. Nucleoli and RNA polymerase
maintained their spatial preference across cell lines and conditions, whereas other
compartments showed altered spatial preferences. Interestingly, viral transformation led
to global disorganisation of the nucleus, where most compartments (including PML
NBs) reverted to a diffuse spatial preference.