A nuclear lamin is required for cytoplasmic organization and egg polarity in Drosophila

Nuclear lamins are intermediate filaments that compose the nuclear lamina - the filamentous meshwork underlying the inner nuclear membrane - and are required for nuclear assembly, organization and maintenance. Here we present evidence that a nuclear lamin is also required for cytoplasmic organization in two highly polarized cell types. Zygotic loss-of-function mutations in the Drosophila gene encoding the principal lamin (Dm(0)) disrupt the directed outgrowth of cytoplasmic extensions from terminal cells of the tracheal system. Germline mutant clones disrupt dorsal-ventral polarity of the oocyte. In mutant oocytes, transcripts of the dorsal determinant Gurken, a transforming growth factor-alpha homologue, fail to localize properly around the anterodorsal surface of the oocyte nucleus; their ventral spread results in dorsalized eggs that resemble those of the classical dorsalizing mutations squid and fs(1)K10. The requirement of a nuclear lamin for cytoplasmic as well as nuclear organization has important implications for both the cellular functions of lamins and the pathogenesis of human diseases caused by lamin mutations.