The role of Ran in nuclear function

There have been three major advances in the understanding of the Ran pathwa y during the past two years: first, a general model for Ran's function in n uclear transport has been proposed and extensively tested. Second, crystal structures for many proteins that regulate or interact with Ran have been r eported, which provide molecular details of how Ran works. Third, it has be en documented that Ran regulates mitotic spindle assembly in a transport-in dependent fashion.