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Nuclear Speckles are Enriched in pre-mRNA Splicing Factors

Speckles are subnuclear structures enriched in pre-mRNA splicing factors, located in the interchromatin regions of the nucleoplasm of mammalian cells. At the fluorescence microscope level they appear as irregular, punctate structures that vary in size and shape. When examined by electron microscopy they correspond to clusters of interchromatin granules. Speckles are dynamic structures and both their protein and RNA-protein components can cycle continuously between speckles and other nuclear locations, including active transcription sites.

Mintz, P., S.D. Patterson, A.F. Neuwald, C.S. Spahr, and D.L. Spector. 1999. Purification and biochemical characterization of interchromatin granule clusters. EMBO J. 18, 4308-4320.

Lamond, A.I. and D.L. Spector. 2003. Nuclear speckles: a model for nuclear organelles. Nature Reviews: Molec. and Cell. Biol. 4: 605-612. Download PDF