Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol. 2013 Jul 1;5(7):a013375. doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a013375.
The nuclear envelope (NE) is a specific extension of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) that wraps around the nucleus and enables the spatial separation of gene transcription and protein translation, one of the signature features of eukaryotes. Rather than being completely closed, the double lipid bilayer of the NE is perforated at sites where the inner and outer nuclear membranes fuse, resulting in circular openings lined with sharply bent membranes. These openings are filled with nuclear pore complexes (NPCs), enormous protein assemblies that facilitate nuclear transport. The scaffold components of the NPC surprisingly share interesting similarities with elements of coat protein complexes, which have general implications for function and evolution of these membrane-coating complexes. Here I discuss, from a structural perspective, what these findings might teach us.
核膜（NE）是内质网（ER）的特殊延伸，围绕着细胞核，并使基因转录和蛋白质翻译在空间上分离，这是真核生物的特征之一。核膜的双层脂质并非完全封闭，而是在内核膜和外核膜融合的部位穿孔，形成圆形开口，开口边缘由急剧弯曲的膜组成。这些开口中填充着核孔复合物（NPC），这是一种巨大的蛋白质组装体，有助于核运输。NPC 的支架成分与衣壳蛋白复合物的元件惊人地相似，这对这些膜包裹复合物的功能和进化具有普遍意义。在这里，我将从结构的角度讨论这些发现可能给我们带来的启示。
