Nuclear bodies

Nuclear bodies (also known as nuclear domains or nuclear dots) are <a href="/facts/Biomolecular_condensate/rD87AvWT">biomolecular condensates</a>, membraneless structures found in the <a href="/facts/Cell_nucleus/D7sFRa3c">cell nuclei</a> of <a href="/facts/Eukaryote/SkwyPLMA">eukaryotic</a> <a href="/facts/Cell_(biology)/bLM9UQvy">cells</a>. Nuclear bodies include <a href="/facts/Cajal_body/Jf94K3qj">Cajal bodies</a>, the <a href="/facts/Nucleolus/X7B5HKM4">nucleolus</a>, nuclear speckles (also called splicing speckles), histone locus bodies, and <a href="/facts/Promyelocytic_leukemia_protein/QdCl05AJ">promyelocytic leukemia protein</a> (PML) nuclear bodies (also called PML oncogenic dots). Nuclear bodies also include ND10s. ND stands for nuclear domain, and 10 refers to the number of dots seen. Additionally, a nuclear body subtype is a <a href="/facts/Cell_nucleus/D7sFRa3c">clastosome</a> suggested to be a site of protein degradation. 
While biomolecular condensate is a term often used interchangeably with nuclear bodies, the term "condensates" implies the thermodynamic properties of the body are known. Thus, nuclear body (and sometimes nuclear compartment) is a term that is more general and encompasses structures where either the biophysical property is not a condensate or is currently untested.
Nuclear bodies were first seen as prominent interchromatin structures in the nuclei of malignant or hyperstimulated animal cells identified using <a href="/facts/Anti-sp100_antibodies/yA01qSXW">anti-sp100 autoantibodies</a> from <a href="/facts/Primary_biliary_cirrhosis/9X0f10mz">primary biliary cirrhosis</a> and subsequently the promyelocytic leukemia (PML) factor, but appear also to be elevated in many autoimmune and cancerous diseases. Nuclear dots are metabolically stable and resistant to nuclease digestion and salt extraction.

Nuclear bodies open-in-new

Nuclear bodies