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

The AF6/afadin protein is a component of cell membranes at specialized sites of cell-cell contact. Two main splice variants exist, known as l- 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, l-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 G(1)/S or G(2)/M checkpoints. The formation of AF6/s-afadin nuclear bodies is also sensitive to the transcriptional activity of the cell with inhibition of RNA polymerase activity abolishing AF6/s-afadin nuclear clustering. AF6/s-afadin nuclear bodies localize to a novel subnuclear compartment, failing to colocalize with other known nuclear bodies. Formation of the AF6/s-afadin nuclear foci can be regulated by specific growth factor receptor mediated signaling events and by cytoplasmic tyrosine kinases, but does not correlate with tyrosine phosphorylation of AF6/s-afadin. AF6/s-afadin is a candidate for mediating control of cellular growth processes by regulated translocation to the nucleus.