CANu1, a novel nucleolar protein, accumulated on centromere in response to DNA damage

Single nucleotide polymorphism is known to be an ideal marker to detect human diseases. We isolated a novel human gene, to be called as CANu1, by the large-scale genome-wide association analysis to screen specific Single nucleotide polymorphisms in colon cancer. It is mapped to chromosome 14q11.2 and its transcript contains a 948-nt open reading frame encoding a protein of 315 aa. Here, we observed that green fluorescence protein (GFP)-fused CANu1 protein was localized to nucleoli and the C-termini of CANu1 protein were essential for its localization. Moreover, the silencing of the CANu1 gene by siRNA caused ribosomal stress leading to G1 cell cycle arrest, the induction of p53 protein, and the translocation of B23 protein. In addition, CANu1 protein was translocated from nucleolus to nuclear foci in response to UV damage. Interestingly, the mobility of a GFP-CANu1 protein in the UV damaged cells was two times faster than non-irradiated cells. Taken together, we report that a novel nucleolar protein, CANu1, is essential to maintain ribosomal structure and responsive upon UV damage.