Publication Date:
1996-09-27
Description:
The nuclear pore complex (NPC) is essential for the transit of molecules between the cytoplasm and nucleoplasm of a cell and until recently was thought to allow intermediate-sized molecules (relative molecular mass of approximately 10,000) to diffuse freely across the nuclear envelope. However, the depletion of calcium from the nuclear envelope of Xenopus laevis oocytes was shown to regulate the passage of intermediate-sized molecules. Two distinct conformational states of the NPC were observed by field emission scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. A central plug occluded the NPC channel after nuclear calcium stores had been depleted and free diffusion of intermediate-sized molecules had been blocked. Thus, the NPC conformation appears to gate molecular movement across the nuclear envelope.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Perez-Terzic, C -- Pyle, J -- Jaconi, M -- Stehno-Bittel, L -- Clapham, D E -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 1996 Sep 27;273(5283):1875-7.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Pharmacology, Mayo Foundation, Rochester, MN 55905, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8791595" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
Calcium/*metabolism
;
Cell Nucleus/*metabolism
;
Chelating Agents/pharmacology
;
Diffusion
;
Egtazic Acid/analogs & derivatives/pharmacology
;
Female
;
Inositol 1,4,5-Trisphosphate/pharmacology
;
Microscopy, Atomic Force
;
Microscopy, Electron
;
Nuclear Envelope/metabolism/*ultrastructure
;
Oocytes
;
Xenopus laevis
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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