Probing High Permeability of Nuclear Pore Complexes by Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy: Ca2+ Effects on Transport Barriers.

ABSTRACT: The nuclear pore complex (NPC) solely mediates molecular transport between the nucleus and cytoplasm of a eukaryotic cell to play important biological and biomedical roles. However, it is not well-understood chemically how this biological nanopore selectively and efficiently transports various substances, including small molecules, proteins, and RNAs by using transport barriers that are rich in highly disordered repeats of hydrophobic phenylalanine and glycine intermingled with charged amino acids. Herein, we employ scanning electrochemical microscopy to image and measure the high permeability of NPCs to small redox molecules. The effective medium theory demonstrates that the measured permeability is controlled by diffusional translocation of probe molecules through water-filled nanopores

SUBMITTER: Pathirathna P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6535230 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature