A homeostatic mechanism rapidly corrects aberrant nucleocytoplasmic ratios maintaining nuclear size

Nuclear Pore Complex The Mechanism of Nucleocytoplasmic Transport through

Nucleocytoplasmic transport: a thermodynamic mechanism.

The nuclear pore supports molecular communication between cytoplasm and nucleus in eukaryotic cells. Selective transport of proteins is mediated by soluble receptors, whose regulation by the small GTPase Ran leads to cargo accumulation in, or depletion from, the nucleus, i.e., nuclear import or nuclear export. We consider the operation of this transport system by a combined analytical and exper...

A systematic genomic screen implicates nucleocytoplasmic transport and membrane growth in nuclear size control

How cells control the overall size and growth of membrane-bound organelles is an important unanswered question of cell biology. Fission yeast cells maintain a nuclear size proportional to cellular size, resulting in a constant ratio between nuclear and cellular volumes (N/C ratio). We have conducted a genome-wide visual screen of a fission yeast gene deletion collection for viable mutants alter...

Maintaining the stability of neural function: a homeostatic hypothesis.

The precise regulation of neural excitability is essential for proper nerve cell, neural circuit, and nervous system function. During postembryonic development and throughout life, neurons are challenged with perturbations that can alter excitability, including changes in cell size, innervation, and synaptic input. Numerous experiments demonstrate that neurons are able to compensate for these t...

Nuclear architecture and dynamics: territories, nuclear bodies, and nucleocytoplasmic trafficking.

The nucleus is master of the cellular universe in eukaryotes and home to much of the genome and the machinery for its replication, maintenance, and expression. Although subnuclear compartments such as the nucleolus and Cajal bodies have been known for over a century, studies in the last 2 decades have clearly established that the nucleoplasm is organized into nonmembrane-bound subdomains and bo...