The yeast nuclear pore complex: Composition, architecture, and transport mechanism

An understanding of how the nuclear pore complex (NPC) mediates nucleocytop lasmic exchange requires a comprehensive inventory of the molecular compone nts of the NPC and a knowledge of how each component contributes to the ove rall structure of this large molecular translocation machine, Therefore, we have taken a comprehensive approach to classify all components of the yeas t NPC (nucleoporins),This involved identifying all the proteins present in a highly enriched NPC fraction, determining which of these proteins were nu cleoporins, and localizing each nucleoporin within the NPC, Using these dat a, we present a map of the molecular architecture of the yeast NPC and prov ide evidence for a Brownian affinity gating mechanism for nucleocytoplasmic transport.