Till disassembly do us part: a happy marriage of nuclear envelope and chromatin

A characteristic feature of eukaryotic cells is the presence of nuclear envelope (NE) which separates genomic DNA from cytoplasm. NE is composed of inner nuclear membrane (INM), which interacts with chromatin, and outer nuclear membrane, which is connected to endoplasmic reticulum. Nuclear pore complexes are inserted into NE to form transport channels between nucleus and cytoplasm. In metazoan cells, an intermediate filament-based meshwork called as nuclear lamina exists between INM and chromatin. Sophisticated collaboration of these molecular machineries is necessary for the structure and functions of NE. Recent research advances have revealed that NE dynamically communicates with chromatin and cytoskeleton to control multiple nuclear functions. In this mini review, I briefly summarize the basic concepts and current topics of functional relationships between NE and chromatin.