This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Kustanovich, T. Articles by Rabin, Y. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Kustanovich, T. Articles by Rabin, Y.

Metastable Network Model of Protein Transport through Nuclear Pores

T. Kustanovich ^* and Y. Rabin ^* 

^* Department of Physics, Bar Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel; and The Rowland Institute at Harvard, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142 USA

Correspondence: Address reprint requests to Professor Yitzhak Rabin, E-mail: rabin{at}mail.biu.ac.il.

To reconcile the observed selectivity and the high rate of translocation of cargo-importin complexes through nuclear pores, we propose that the core of the nuclear pore complex is blocked by a metastable network of phenylalanine and glycine nucleoporins. Although the network arrests the unfacilitated passage of objects larger than its mesh size, cargo-importin complexes act as catalysts that reduce the free energy barrier between the cross-linked and the dissociated states of the Nups, and open the network. Using Brownian dynamics simulations we calculate the distribution of passage times through the network for inert particles and cargo-importin complexes of different sizes and discuss the implications of our results for experiments on translocation of proteins through the nuclear pore complex.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				H. Hieronymus and P. A. Silver A systems view of mRNP biology Genes & Dev., December 1, 2004; 18(23): 2845 - 2860. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]