Isolation and characterization of two importin-β genes from rice

Abstract

The nuclear transport of proteins is mediated by the complex of importin-α and importin-β. We isolated two cDNAs encoding importin- β from rice. A rice importin-β was demonstrated to interact with rice GST-importin-α fusion proteins. The presence of two importin-β genes was shown for the first time among a variety of eukaryotes.