Characterisation of the 1B4 antigen.

Abstract

Processes occurring within the nucleus are thought to be organised by a matrix of protein and RNA. The individual protein components of this structure are not well defined. This work describes the characterisation of an antigen identified by the 1B4 antibody, which was created as part of an effort to identify novel nuclear proteins. This antibody was raised against a nuclear matrix extract of HL-60 cells to specifically target proteins which are components of, or associated with, the nonchromatin structure of the nucleus. It detects a 100 kDa protein in mitotic HeLa cells. I have performed experiments to verify that this antigen is a nuclear matrix protein in which I extracted cells in situ and detected the 1B4 antigen by immunofluorescence. Further experiments involved immunofluorescence studies in which I compared the distribution of the 1B4 antigen to distributions of proteins with known functions related to pre-mRNA splicing. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)