Nucleus-translocated mitochondrial cytochrome c liberates nucleophosmin-sequestered ARF tumor suppressor by changing nucleolar liquid–liquid phase separation

The regular functioning of the nucleolus and nucleus-mitochondria crosstalk are considered unrelated processes, yet cytochrome c (Cc) migrates to the nucleus and even the nucleolus under stress conditions. Nucleolar liquid–liquid phase separation usually serves the cell as a fast, smart mechanism to control the spatial localization and trafficking of nuclear proteins. Actually, the alternative reading frame (ARF), a tumor suppressor protein sequestered by nucleophosmin (NPM) in the nucleoli, is shifted out from NPM upon DNA damage. DNA damage also triggers early translocation of respiratory Cc to nucleus before cytoplasmic caspase activation. Here, we show that Cc can bind to nucleolar NPM by triggering an extended-to-compact conformational change, driving ARF release. Such a NPM–Cc nucleolar interaction can be extended to a general mechanism for DNA damage in which the lysine-rich regions of Cc—rather than the canonical, arginine-rich stretches of membrane-less organelle components—controls the trafficking and availability of nucleolar proteins.