Nup192p is a conserved nucleoporin with a preferential location at the inner site of the nuclear membrane.

Human Nup93, the homologue of yeast Nic96p, is associated with a 205-kDa protein whose intracellular location and function is unknown. We show here that the yeast open reading frame YJL039c, which is homologous to this human p205, encodes the so far largest yeast nucleoporin. Accordingly, green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged YJL039c was localized to the nuclear pores and therefore named Nup192p. Affinity purification of ProtA-Nic96p from glutaraldehyde-fixed spheroplasts reveals association with Nup192p. NUP192 is essential for cell growth. A temperature-sensitive mutant nup192-15 is neither impaired in nuclear import of a SV40 nuclear localization sequence-containing reporter protein nor in mRNA export, but association of Nup49-GFP with nuclear pores is inhibited at the non-permissive temperature. By immunoelectron microscopy, Nup192p-ProtA is seen at the inner site of the nuclear pores, at a distance of 60 +/- 15 nm from the central plane of the pore. This suggests that Nup192p is an evolutionarily conserved structural component of the nuclear pore complex with a preferential location at the inner site of the nuclear membrane.