Regulation of macromolecular traffic mediated by the nuclear pore complex

A sophisticated selective mechanism that regulates nuclear-cytoplasmic traffic has evolved in eukaryotes which circumvents the formidable barrier presented by the nuclear envelope. The sites of RNA and protein exchanges are the nuclear pore complexes (NPCs), 125 MDa supramolecular assemblies inserted into the envelope (see recent reviews by Dingwall, 1991; Goldfarb and Michaud, 1991; Miller et al., 1991; Nigg et al., 1991). In this article, the role NPCs play in regulating intracellular macromolecular traffic will be discussed.