AF6/s-afadin is a dual residency protein and localizes to a novel subnuclear compartment

Abstract

The AF6/afadin protein is a component of cell membranes at specialized sites of cell-cell contact. Two main splice variants exist, known as I- and s-afadin, respectively. L-afadin is widely expressed in cells of epithelial origin, whilst s-afadin expression is restricted to the brain. Here we demonstrate that the short form of AF6/s-afadin is a dual residency protein able to localize to the plasma membrane or nucleus whilst the long form of AF6, I-afadin is unable to localize to the nucleus. AF6/s-afadin clusters in a distinctive speckled pattern in the nucleus, but is unable to do so when cell cycle progression is inhibited at the G1/S or G2/M checkpoints. The formation of AF6/s-afadin nucl..