title: Insights into the gate of the nuclear pore complex.
abstract: Nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) serve as the gateway of the cell nucleus. These macromolecular assemblies form selective aqueous translocation channels permitting the free diffusion of small molecules, as well as receptor-mediated transport of large cargoes. Over the past decade, major progress has been made in both the structural determination of individual nucleoporins and subcomplexes by X-ray crystallography and in the structural analysis of the entire NPC by cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET). The metazoan NPC structure from Xenopus laevis oocytes was recently resolved up to 20 Å by combining cryo-ET with advanced image processing techniques, revealing for the first time the architecture of the central channel. Here, we discuss the structure of the Xenopus laevis NPC and consider future perspectives that will eventually allow reconstructing the scaffold and gate of the NPC with higher resolution and identifying its transport-relevant regions. This will eventually allow us to describe the structure of the NPC 'in action'.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Biochemistry , University of Zurich , Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zurich , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zwerger
authors.affiliation: a Department of Biochemistry , University of Zurich , Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zurich , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eibauer
authors.affiliation: a Department of Biochemistry , University of Zurich , Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zurich , Switzerland.|b Department of Life Sciences and the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev , Ben-Gurion University , Beer-Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: Ohad
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Medalia
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D022022:Nuclear Pore / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D028861:Nuclear Pore Complex Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D009865:Oocytes / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D029867:Xenopus Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D014982:Xenopus laevis
chemical_list: D028861:Nuclear Pore Complex Proteins; D029867:Xenopus Proteins
keywords: Cryo-electron tomography; FG-repeat domains; Xenopus laevis; nuclear pore complex; nucleoporins; oocytes