Piecing together nuclear pore complex assembly during interphase

Abstract

All nucleocytoplasmic traffic of macromolecules occurs through nuclear pore complexes (NPCs), which function as stents in the nuclear envelope to keep nuclear pores open but gated. Three studies in this issue (Flemming, D., P. Sarges, P. Stelter, A. Hellwig, B. Bottcher, and E. Hurt. 2009. J. Cell Biol. 185:387-395; Makio, T., L.H. Stanton, C.-C. Lin, D.S. Goldfarb, K. Weis, and R.W. Wozniak. 2009. J. Cell Biol. 185:459-473; Onishchenko, E., L.H. Stanton, A.S. Madrid, T. Kieselbach, and K. Weis. 2009. J. Cell Biol. 185:475-491) further our understanding of the NPC assembly process by reporting what happens when the supply lines of key proteins that provide a foundation for building these marvelous supra- molecular structures are disrupted.