Nuclear pore complex – a coat specifically tailored for the nuclear envelope

摘要

Nuclear Pore Complexes (NPCs) are highly selective transport gates that enable the bidirectional traffic of macromolecules across the nuclear envelope (NE). NPCs are located at the fusion pores between the inner and outer membranes of the NE and are built from a common set of ~30 different proteins, nucleoporins. Remarkably, recent proteomic, bioinformatic and structural studies have provided firm evidence that key structural nucleoporins share common ancestry with elements of coated vesicles, indicating an evolutionary link between these structures. This has provided novel insight into the origin of NPCs and may help us to functionally characterize these fundamental components of eukaryotic cells.