PROTEIN IMPORT INTO NUCLEUS

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. Primary support for the subproject and the subproject's principal investigator may have been provided by other sources, including other NIH sources. The Total Cost listed for the subproject likely represents the estimated amount of Center infrastructure utilized by the subproject, not direct funding provided by the NCRR grant to the subproject or subproject staff. Many cargoes destined for nuclear import carry nuclear localization signals that are recognized by karyopherins (Kaps). We present methods to quantitate import rates and measure Kap and cargo concentrations in single yeast cells in vivo, providing new insights into import kinetics. By systematically manipulating the amounts, types, and affinities of Kaps and cargos, we show that import rates in vivo are simply governed by the concentrations of Kaps and their cargo and the affinity between them. These rates fit to a straightforward pump-leak model for the import process. Unexpectedly, we deduced that the main limiting factor for import is the poor ability of Kaps and cargos to find each other in the cytoplasm in a background of overwhelming nonspecific competition, rather than other more obvious candidates such as the nuclear pore complex and Ran. It is likely that most of every import round is taken up by Kaps and nuclear localization signals sampling other cytoplasmic proteins as they locate each other in the cytoplasm. a manuscript describing the early stages of this work has been published: Simple kinetic relationships and nonspecific competition govern nuclear import rates in vivo. Timney BL, Tetenbaum-Novatt J, Agate DS, Williams R, Zhang W, Chait BT, Rout MP.J Cell Biol. 2006 175(4):579-93. Currently this work is being expanded to include measurements of the dissociation constants between a variety of transport factors and FG-nucleoporins. A paper describing this work is in preparation. A key finding of this work relates to the importance of non-specific interactions which strongly modulate the association/dissociation kinetics.