Barrier-to-autointegration factor is required to segregate and enclose chromosomes within the nuclear envelope and assemble the nuclear lamina.

Barrier-to-autointegration factor (BAF) binds dsDNA, LEM-domain proteins, and lamins. Caenorhabditis elegans BAF requires Ce-lamin and two LEM-domain proteins (Ce-emerin and Ce-MAN1) to localize during nuclear assembly. It was unknown whether Ce-lamin and LEM proteins, in turn, depend on Ce-BAF (mutually dependent structural roles). RNA interference-mediated down-regulation of Ce-BAF caused gross defects in chromosome segregation, chromatin decondensation, and mitotic progression as early as the two-cell stage, and embryos died at the approximately 100-cell stage. Nuclear pores reassembled, whereas Ce-lamin, Ce-emerin, and Ce-MAN1 bound chromatin but remained patchy and disorganized. The nuclear membranes formed but failed to enclose anaphase-bridged chromatin. Time-lapse imaging showed two phenotypes: anaphase-bridged chromatin that eventually resolved, and segregated chromatin that returned to the midzone. Thus, the assembly of BAF, lamins, and LEM-domain proteins is mutually dependent, and is required to capture segregated chromosomes within the nascent nuclear envelope. Embryos that escaped lethality by down-regulation of Ce-BAF grew into sterile adults with misplaced distal tip cells and gonads, further suggesting that mild postembryonic reductions in BAF disrupt tissue-specific functions.

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