Structure of Yeast Nuclear Pore Complexes

Abstract

Nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) are large protein complex assemblies by about 30 different proteins, called nucleoporins (Nups), embedded in the nuclear envelope. Most of transport of molecules between cytoplasm and nucleus occurs through the NPCs. The research of yeast and vertebrate NPC structure made big progress in the past decades. This chapter first reviews recent advances of NPC structure and architecture by electron microscopy and super-resolution and then further overviews the progress of NPC structure and dynamic in living yeast cells by a single molecular detection approach called single-point edge-excitation sub-diffraction (SPEED) microscopy. In the last section, we will discuss the perspective about the structure of yeast NPCs.