Components of coated vesicles and nuclear pore complexes share a common molecular architecture.

ABSTRACT: Numerous features distinguish prokaryotes from eukaryotes, chief among which are the distinctive internal membrane systems of eukaryotic cells. These membrane systems form elaborate compartments and vesicular trafficking pathways, and sequester the chromatin within the nuclear envelope. The nuclear pore complex is the portal that specifically mediates macromolecular trafficking across the nuclear envelope. Although it is generally understood that these internal membrane systems evolved from specialized invaginations of the prokaryotic plasma membrane, it is not clear how the nuclear pore complex could have evolved from organisms with no analogous transport system. Here we use computational and biochemical methods to perform a structural analysis of the seven proteins comprising the yNup84/

SUBMITTER: Devos D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC524472 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature