FG-rich repeats of nuclear pore proteins form a three-dimensional meshwork with hydrogel-like properties

Nuclear pore complexes permit rapid passage of cargoes bound to nuclear transport receptors, but otherwise suppress nucleocytoplasmic fluxes of inert macromolecules >/=30 kilodaltons. To explain this selectivity, a sieve structure of the permeability barrier has been proposed that is created through reversible cross-linking between Phe and Gly (FG)-rich nucleoporin repeats. According to this model, nuclear transport receptors overcome the size limit of the sieve and catalyze their own nuclear pore-passage by a competitive disruption of adjacent inter-repeat contacts, which transiently opens adjoining meshes. Here, we found that phenylalanine-mediated inter-repeat interactions indeed cross-link FG-repeat domains into elastic and reversible hydrogels. Furthermore, we obtained evidence that such hydrogel formation is required for viability in yeast.     

Gatekeepers of the nucleus

Nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) form the site for entry and exit from the nucleus. A convergence of studies have defined the physical framework for the nuclear transport mechanism. This includes definition of the soluble transport machinery required for protein and RNA movement, x-ray structure analysis of transport factors, definitive compositional analysis of yeast NPCs, and documentation of the relative steady state arrangement of NPC components within the portal. With this information, researchers are now in the exciting position to examine the dynamic interplay between shuttling transport factors and the static pore complex.     

Fate of the nucleus of the marrow erythroblast

Nucleated red cells lose their nuclei during passage through the endothelium of marrow sinuses. The passage occurs through cytoplasmic pores which are not gaps at the junction of two endothelial cells but perforations within the endothelium. Enucleation occurs because the pores are of relatively fixed size. Whereas the cytoplasm is flexible and squeezes through the pore, the nucleus is rigid and cannot conform to the pore size. It is, thus, caught, and the red cell becomes enucleated.     

Blurring the boundary: the nuclear envelope extends its reach

The past decade has seen a complete rethinking of the traditional view of the nuclear envelope as simply a passive enclosure for the chromosomes. The convergence of several lines of clinical and basic research has revealed additional roles in both signaling and mitotic progression. It is becoming apparent that the nuclear envelope defines not only nuclear organization but also that of the cytoskeleton and, in this way, integrates both nuclear and cytoplasmic architecture.     

Life cycle and variation of Prototheca wickerhamii

Prototheca wickerhamii is a yeastlike organism that resembles the green alga Chlorella. Nuclear division in coordination with cytoplasmic cleavage gives rise to uninucleate cytoplasmic segments, each of which acquires a delicate cell wall and develops into an autospore. The autospores in this species are spherical; but in a variant that presumably arose as a result of spontaneous mutation, the cytoplasmic cleavage is irregular, and the resultant autospores are ovoid to bacillary. When these variant autospores grow, they swell and round up before the nuclear division begins, producing spherical cells like those seen in wild-type cultures. In view of the fact that species concept in the genus is based on size and shape of cells, the variation limits in these morphological characteristics have significant bearing on species classification.     

Nuclear mitochondria?

Recognizable mitochondria were detected in the nucleus of a leukemic cell. It is suggested that passage through enlarged nuclear pores, incorporation within a pinched off invagination, or inclusion within the nuclear envelope at telophase may have been responsible for this unusual event.     

拟南芥NUP107-160亚复合物突变体表型分析

核孔复合物(NPC)是真核细胞核膜上比较大的蛋白复合物之一,它通过调节核质间的物质运输,参与生物的多种生长发育过程。目前,植物中只有少数NPC组分的功能得到了初步分析。通过对NUP107-160亚复合物中各组分突变体的鉴定,发现nup160、nup96、nup85、nup107和seh1突变体的叶片振动周期延长,主根的伸长受到抑制,其中nup160、nup96和nup107三种突变体在长日照条件下开花时间显著提前。结果表明NUP107-160亚复合物可能参与拟南芥生物节律、根生长和开花时间的调节。     

Functional targeting of DNA damage to a nuclear pore-associated SUMO-dependent ubiquitin ligase

Recent findings suggest important roles for nuclear organization in gene expression. In contrast, little is known about how nuclear organization contributes to genome stability. Epistasis analysis (E-MAP) using DNA repair factors in yeast indicated a functional relationship between a nuclear pore subcomplex and Slx5/Slx8, a small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO)-dependent ubiquitin ligase, which we show physically interact. Real-time imaging and chromatin immunoprecipitation confirmed stable recruitment of damaged DNA to nuclear pores. Relocation required the Nup84 complex and Mec1/Tel1 kinases. Spontaneous gene conversion can be enhanced in a Slx8- and Nup84-dependent manner by tethering donor sites at the nuclear periphery. This suggests that strand breaks are shunted to nuclear pores for a repair pathway controlled by a conserved SUMO-dependent E3 ligase.     

FINE STRUCTURE OF A DIATOM CENTROSOME

The centrosome of the diatom Surirella ovalis is a dense spherical structure 500 mmicro in diamneter with filaments 15 mmicro in diamneter connected to it. The interior is filled with uniform granules but does not contain a typical centriole or clear area. The filaments emanating from it resemble the filaments of the mitotic apparatus, but they are present during interphase and appear to terminate at pores in the nuclear envelope.     

PUMA couples the nuclear and cytoplasmic proapoptotic function of p53

The Trp53 tumor suppressor gene product (p53) functions in the nucleus to regulate proapoptotic genes, whereas cytoplasmic p53 directly activates proapoptotic Bcl-2 proteins to permeabilize mitochondria and initiate apoptosis. Here, we demonstrate that a tripartite nexus between Bcl-xL, cytoplasmic p53, and PUMA coordinates these distinct p53 functions. After genotoxic stress, Bcl-xL sequestered cytoplasmic p53. Nuclear p53 caused expression of PUMA, which then displaced p53 from Bcl-xL, allowing p53 to induce mitochondrial permeabilization. Mutant Bcl-xL that bound p53, but not PUMA, rendered cells resistant to p53-induced apoptosis irrespective of PUMA expression. Thus, PUMA couples the nuclear and cytoplasmic proapoptotic functions of p53.     

Chromatin-independent nuclear envelope assembly induced by Ran GTPase in Xenopus egg extracts

The nuclear envelope (NE) forms a controlled boundary between the cytoplasm and the nucleus of eukaryotic cells. To facilitate investigation of mechanisms controlling NE assembly, we developed a cell-free system made from Xenopus laevis eggs to study the process in the absence of chromatin. NEs incorporating nuclear pores were assembled around beads coated with the guanosine triphosphatase Ran, forming pseudo-nuclei that actively imported nuclear proteins. NE assembly required the cycling of guanine nucleotides on Ran and was promoted by RCC1, a nucleotide exchange factor recruited to beads by Ran-guanosine diphosphate (Ran-GDP). Thus, concentration of Ran-GDP followed by generation of Ran-GTP is sufficient to induce NE assembly.     

SNARE proteins: one to fuse and three to keep the nascent fusion pore open

Neurotransmitters are released through nascent fusion pores, which ordinarily dilate after bilayer fusion, preventing consistent biochemical studies. We used lipid bilayer nanodiscs as fusion partners; their rigid protein framework prevents dilation and reveals properties of the fusion pore induced by SNARE (soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor). We found that although only one SNARE per nanodisc is required for maximum rates of bilayer fusion, efficient release of content on the physiologically relevant time scale of synaptic transmission apparently requires three or more SNARE complexes (SNAREpins) and the native transmembrane domain of vesicle-associated membrane protein 2 (VAMP2). We suggest that several SNAREpins simultaneously zippering their SNARE transmembrane helices within the freshly fused bilayers provide a radial force that prevents the nascent pore from resealing during synchronous neurotransmitter release.     

果树地下滴灌灌水技术田间试验研究

采用正交试验方法,探讨了不同埋深、孔径、孔距、防堵套长度的简易地下滴灌在定压供水条件下渗水量、管道水压分布和土壤水分入渗规律。结果表明,滴水管的出水量随时间呈幂函数下降,单孔出水量随孔径和孔距的增大而显著增大;地下滴灌的灌水均匀度随孔径的增大、孔距的减小而降低;地下滴灌的土壤入渗宽度随孔径的增大、孔距的减小、埋深的减小而增大,入渗深度则相反;对渭北旱塬地区,现行的果树简易地下滴灌的管道埋深、孔径、孔距应分别为40cm,0.9mm,60～80cm。     

Nuclear pore complex structure and dynamics revealed by cryoelectron tomography

Nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) are gateways for nucleocytoplasmic exchange. To analyze their structure in a close-to-life state, we studied transport-active, intact nuclei from Dictyostelium discoideum by means of cryoelectron tomography. Subvolumes of the tomograms containing individual NPCs were extracted in silico and subjected to three-dimensional classification and averaging, whereby distinct structural states were observed. The central plug/transporter (CP/T) was variable in volume and could occupy different positions along the nucleocytoplasmic axis, which supports the notion that it essentially represents cargo in transit. Changes in the position of the CP/T were accompanied by structural rearrangements in the NPC scaffold.     

The structure of confined oxygen in silica xerogels

The microscopic structure of oxygen confined in silica xerogels has been studied as a function of temperature. In large pores, a crystalline solid forms with a structure consistent with that of the bulk. The size of the crystallites is much larger than the pore size, indicating that cooperative effects among pores are important in freezing. As the pore size is decreased, a crossover occurs where solidification results in an amorphous phase in the pores. The resulting amorphous phase is solid but is less ordered than the liquid phase.     

南堡凹陷高南地区东营组储层成岩作用及孔隙演化研究

根据钻井取心分析测试、岩石薄片和扫描电镜观察等手段,对南堡凹陷高南地区东营组成岩作用和次生孔隙发育特征进行研究,并在此基础上划分了成岩阶段。研究结果表明,东营组碎屑岩地层经历了强烈的压实作用和胶结作用、复杂的交代作用和多期次的溶蚀作用,原生孔隙大部分被破坏,主要以次生孔隙为主,长石的溶蚀是储层中次生孔隙形成的主要原因。从早成岩B期到中成岩A1期,有机质成熟过程、粘土矿物转化等造成的酸性地层水介质,使东营组碎屑岩储层在纵向上主要发育3个次生孔隙发育带。粘土矿物的结晶、石英次生加大作用及碳酸盐胶结物的沉淀对孔隙度的降低起到了关键性作用。     

Curvilinear, three-dimensional motion of chromatin domains and nucleoli in neuronal interphase nuclei

The term "nuclear rotation" refers to a motion of nucleoli within interphase nuclei of several cell types. No mechanism or function has been ascribed to this phenomenon, and it was unknown whether nuclear structures in addition to nucleoli participate in this motion. Moreover, it was unclear whether nuclear rotation occurs independent of concurrent motion of juxtanuclear cytoplasm. The work reported here presents quantitative evidence, for three-dimensional intranuclear, tandem motion of fluorescently labeled chromatin domains associated with nucleoli and those remote from nucleoli. The results show that such motion is curvilinear, that it is not restricted to nucleoli, and, moreover, that it occurs independently of motion of juxtanuclear, cytoplasmic structures. These results suggest that this motion represents karyoplasmic streaming and its function is to transpose to nuclear pores those chromatin domains actively transcribed.