Adding pieces to the puzzling plant nuclear envelope

The nuclear envelope (NE) and the nuclear pores are important structures that both separate and selectively connect the nucleoplasm and the cytoplasm. NE and nuclear pore research in plants have recently seen an elevated level of interest. This is based both on new findings demonstrating the importance of nucleocytoplasmic trafficking for several signal transduction events, and on increasing evidence that NE and nuclear pore components play important roles during plant cell division. Here, we review the most recent reports in the field and compare them to the more advanced knowledge about yeast and animal model systems. They deal with the refined ultrastructure of the NE and NPC, with the discovery of novel NE components, and, importantly, with novel roles and fates of NE-associated and NPC-associated proteins during plant mitosis and cytokinesis.