NETWORK ANTIBODIES IDENTIFY NUCLEAR LAMIN-B AS A PHYSIOLOGICAL ATTACHMENT SITE FOR PERIPHERIN INTERMEDIATE FILAMENTS

We studied the molecular associations between peripherin (a neuronal, type III intermediate filament subunit) and nuclear lamins. We show here that isolated peripherin binds selectively to mammalian lamin B under in vitro conditions. We further demonstrate that a synthetic peptide, representing the proximal part of peripherin's tall domain (P(I)), also associates with mammalian lamin B in a saturable, cooperative, and specific fashion. Laboratory animals immunized with P(I) spontaneously develop idiotypic and antiidiotypic antibodies recognizing peripherin and lamin B, respectively. These data provide essentially in vivo evidence that lamin B represents a constitutive nuclear "receptor" site for the tail domains of peripherin intermediate filaments.