德国欧洲分子生物学实验室Martin Beck、Jan Kosinski等研究人员合作揭示细胞内的核孔扩张和收缩。相关论文于2021年11月11日在线发表在《科学》杂志上。

研究人员将冷冻电子断层扫描（cryo-ET）与综合结构建模相结合，捕捉到了细胞内各自大规模构象变化的分子电影。当指数增长的细胞的核孔复合体（NPC）采用扩张的构象时，它们在细胞能量耗尽或高渗渗透压力的条件下可逆地收缩。这些数据指出了一个模型，即核包膜张力与NPC的构象有关。

据悉，在真核细胞中，NPC融合了内部和外部的核膜，并介导核细胞质的交换。它们由30种不同的核蛋白组成，围绕着一个水样的中央通道形成一个圆柱形结构。这种结构在空间和时间上是高度动态的。NPC直径的变化已被报道，但生理情况和分子细节仍然未知。

附：英文原文

Title: Nuclear pores dilate and constrict in cellulo

Author: Christian E. Zimmerli, Matteo Allegretti, Vasileios Rantos, Sara K. Goetz, Agnieszka Obarska-Kosinska, Ievgeniia Zagoriy, Aliaksandr Halavatyi, Gerhard Hummer, Julia Mahamid, Jan Kosinski, Martin Beck

Issue&Volume: 2021-11-11

Abstract: In eukaryotic cells, nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) fuse the inner and outer nuclear membranes and mediate nucleocytoplasmic exchange. They are made of 30 different nucleoporins and form a cylindrical architecture around an aqueous central channel. This architecture is highly dynamic in space and time. Variations in NPC diameter have been reported, but the physiological circumstances and the molecular details remain unknown. Here we combined cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) with integrative structural modeling to capture a molecular movie of the respective large-scale conformational changes in cellulo. While NPCs of exponentially growing cells adopted a dilated conformation, they reversibly constricted upon cellular energy depletion or conditions of hypertonic osmotic stress. Our data point to a model where the nuclear envelope membrane tension is linked to the conformation of the NPC.

DOI: abd9776

Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abd9776