Metazoan nuclear pore complexes in gene regulation and genome stability

Abstract

The nuclear pore complexes (NPCs), one of the hallmarks of eukaryotic nuclei, allow selective transport of macromolecules between the cytoplasm and the nucleus. Besides this canonical function, an increasing number of additional roles have been attributed to the NPCs and their constituents, the nucleoporins. Here we review recent insights into the mechanisms by which NPCs and nucleoporins affect transcription and DNA repair in metazoans. In the first part, we discuss how gene expression can be affected by the localization of genome-nucleoporin interactions at pores or “off-pores”, by the role of nucleoporins in chromatin organization at different scales, or by the physical properties of nucleoporins. In the second part, we review the contribution of NPCs to genome stability, including transport-dependent and -independent functions and the role of positioning at NPCs in the repair of heterochromatic breaks and the regulation of replication stress.