Nuclear pores - an unknown role in mitosis?

January, 2012

The pores are known as 'nuclear pore complexes' (NPCs) and are composed of distinct protein sub-complexes or 'nucleoporins' with specific locations and functions. Some are involved in anchoring the pore to the cell membrane while others mediate the transport of molecules through the NPC. Very little is known about how post translational modification of the NPC affects the regulation of NPC functions.

• Hayakawa A, Babour A, Sengmanivong L, Dargemont C. Ubiquitylation of the nuclear pore complex controls nuclear migration during mitosis in S. cerevisiae. J Cell Biol. 2012 Jan 9;196(1):19-27.

Using yeast cells, Hayakawa et al demonstrated that over 50% of NPC proteins were conjugated to ubiquitin. Interestingly, they found that ubiquitylation of a nucleoporin, known as NUP 159, located on the cytoplasmic side of the NPC, has a role in nuclear segregation during the onset of mitosis. Blocking ubiquitylation led to segregation defects - highlighting an important unexplored role of the NPC in cell division. The group's research involved imaging of yeast cells using the super resolution technique of Structured Illumination Microscopy (SIM). Acquisitions were performed in 2D SIM mode using Nikon's N-SIM microscope before image reconstruction with NIS-Elements software.

Associated Products

• Super Resolution Microscope
  N-SIM

• Imaging Software
  NIS-Elements