Basic amino acid residues located in the N-terminal region of BEND3 are essential for its nuclear localization

Abstract BEN domain-containing protein 3 (BEND3) has recently been reported to function as a heterochromatin-associated protein in transcriptional repression in the nucleus. BEND3 should have nuclear localization signals (NLSs) to localize to the nucleus in light of its molecular weight, which is higher than that allowed to pass through nuclear pore complexes. We here analyzed the subcellular localization of deletion/site-directed mutants of human BEND3 by an immunofluorescence assay in an attempt to identify the amino acids essential for its nuclear localization. We found that three basic amino acid residues located in the N-terminal region of BEND3 (BEND3 56–58 , KRK) are essential, suggesting that these residues play a role as a functional NLS. These results provide valuable information for progressing research on BEND3.