Cryo-electron Microscopy Reveals the Structure of the Nuclear Pore Complex

作者：Linhua Tai, Guoliang Yin, Fei Sun, Yun Zhu · 发表于：Journal of Molecular Biology · 年份：2023 · DOI：10.1016/j.jmb.2023.168051 · 被引用次数：25 · 研究领域：Nuclear Structure and Function、RNA Research and Splicing、Advanced Electron Microscopy Techniques and Applications

The nuclear pore complex (NPC) is a giant protein assembly that penetrates the double layers of the nuclear membrane. The overall structure of the NPC has approximately eightfold symmetry and is formed by approximately 30 nucleoporins. The great size and complexity of the NPC have hindered the study of its structure for many years until recent breakthroughs were achieved by integrating the latest high-resolution cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), the emerging artificial intelligence-based modeling and all other available structural information from crystallography and mass spectrometry. Here, we review our latest knowledge of the NPC architecture and the history of its structural study from in vitro to in situ with progressively improved resolutions by cryo-EM, with a particular focus on the latest subnanometer-resolution structural studies. The future directions for structural studies of NPCs are also discussed.