scholarly journals The Role of Protein Disorder in Nuclear Transport and in Its Subversion by Viruses

Cells ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 2654
Author(s):  
Jacinta M. Wubben ◽  
Sarah C. Atkinson ◽  
Natalie A. Borg

The transport of host proteins into and out of the nucleus is key to host function. However, nuclear transport is restricted by nuclear pores that perforate the nuclear envelope. Protein intrinsic disorder is an inherent feature of this selective transport barrier and is also a feature of the nuclear transport receptors that facilitate the active nuclear transport of cargo, and the nuclear transport signals on the cargo itself. Furthermore, intrinsic disorder is an inherent feature of viral proteins and viral strategies to disrupt host nucleocytoplasmic transport to benefit their replication. In this review, we highlight the role that intrinsic disorder plays in the nuclear transport of host and viral proteins. We also describe viral subversion mechanisms of the host nuclear transport machinery in which intrinsic disorder is a feature. Finally, we discuss nuclear import and export as therapeutic targets for viral infectious disease.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tae Yeon Yoo ◽  
Timothy J Mitchison

AbstractMacromolecular transport across the nuclear envelope depends on facilitated diffusion through nuclear pore complexes (NPCs). The interior of NPCs contains a permeability barrier made of phenylalanine-glycine (FG) repeat domains that selectively facilitates the permeation of cargoes bound to nuclear transport receptors (NTRs). FG repeats in NPC are a major site of O-linked N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) modification, but the functional role of this modification in nucleocytoplasmic transport is unclear. We developed high-throughput assays based on optogenetic probes to quantify the kinetics of nuclear import and export in living human cells. We found that increasing O-GlcNAc modification of the NPC accelerated NTR-facilitated nucleocytoplasmic transport of proteins in both directions, and decreasing modification slowed transport. Super-resolution imaging revealed strong enrichment of O-GlcNAc at the FG-repeat barrier. O-GlcNAc modification also accelerated passive permeation of a small, inert protein through NPCs. We conclude that O-GlcNAc modification accelerates nucleocytoplasmic transport by enhancing the non-specific permeability the FG-repeat barrier, perhaps by steric inhibition of interactions between FG repeats.SummaryNuclear pore complexes mediate nuclear transport and are highly modified with O-linked N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) on FG repeat domains. Using a new quantitative live-cell imaging assay, Yoo and Mitchison demonstrate acceleration of nuclear import and export by O-GlcNAc modification.


Cells ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 1424
Author(s):  
Elma Sakinatus Sajidah ◽  
Keesiang Lim ◽  
Richard W. Wong

The host nucleocytoplasmic trafficking system is often hijacked by viruses to accomplish their replication and to suppress the host immune response. Viruses encode many factors that interact with the host nuclear transport receptors (NTRs) and the nucleoporins of the nuclear pore complex (NPC) to access the host nucleus. In this review, we discuss the viral factors and the host factors involved in the nuclear import and export of viral components. As nucleocytoplasmic shuttling is vital for the replication of many viruses, we also review several drugs that target the host nuclear transport machinery and discuss their feasibility for use in antiviral treatment.


eLife ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kasper R Andersen ◽  
Evgeny Onischenko ◽  
Jeffrey H Tang ◽  
Pravin Kumar ◽  
James Z Chen ◽  
...  

Nucleocytoplasmic transport is mediated by nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) embedded in the nuclear envelope. About 30 different proteins (nucleoporins, nups) arrange around a central eightfold rotational axis to build the modular NPC. Nup188 and Nup192 are related and evolutionary conserved, large nucleoporins that are part of the NPC scaffold. Here we determine the structure of Nup188. The protein folds into an extended stack of helices where an N-terminal 130 kDa segment forms an intricate closed ring, while the C-terminal region is a more regular, superhelical structure. Overall, the structure has distant similarity with flexible S-shaped nuclear transport receptors (NTRs). Intriguingly, like NTRs, both Nup188 and Nup192 specifically bind FG-repeats and are able to translocate through NPCs by facilitated diffusion. This blurs the existing dogma of a clear distinction between stationary nups and soluble NTRs and suggests an evolutionary relationship between the NPC and the soluble nuclear transport machinery.


BMC Genomics ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 9 (Suppl 2) ◽  
pp. S4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerard Goh ◽  
A Keith Dunker ◽  
Vladimir N Uversky

Biomolecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerard Kian-Meng Goh ◽  
A. Keith Dunker ◽  
James A. Foster ◽  
Vladimir N. Uversky

The world is currently witnessing an outbreak of a new coronavirus spreading quickly across China and affecting at least 24 other countries. With almost 65,000 infected, a worldwide death toll of at least 1370 (as of 14 February 2020), and with the potential to affect up to two-thirds of the world population, COVID-19 is considered by the World Health Organization (WHO) to be a global health emergency. The speed of spread and infectivity of COVID-19 (also known as Wuhan-2019-nCoV) are dramatically exceeding those of the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV). In fact, since September 2012, the WHO has been notified of 2494 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, whereas the 2002–2003 epidemic of SARS affected 26 countries and resulted in more than 8000 cases. Therefore, although SARS, MERS, and COVID-19 are all the result of coronaviral infections, the causes of the coronaviruses differ dramatically in their transmissibility. It is likely that these differences in infectivity of coronaviruses can be attributed to the differences in the rigidity of their shells which can be evaluated using computational tools for predicting intrinsic disorder predisposition of the corresponding viral proteins.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hitoki Nanaura ◽  
Honoka Kawamukai ◽  
Ayano Fujiwara ◽  
Takeru Uehara ◽  
Mari Nakanishi ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTLow-complexity (LC) domains of proteins are found in about one fifth of human proteome, and a group of LC-domains form labile cross-β polymers and liquid-like droplets. Polymers and droplets formed from LC-domains are dynamically regulated by posttranslational modifications and molecular chaperones including nuclear transport receptors. Repeat expansion in the first intron of a gene designated C9orf72, which is the most prevalent form of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), causes nucleocytoplasmic transport deficit, however, the detailed mechanism remains unsolved. Here we show that the proline:arginine (PR) poly-dipeptides encoded by the C9orf72 repeat expansion bound nuclear transport receptor Kapβ2 through its nuclear localization signal (NLS) recognition motif, and inhibited the ability of Kapβ2 to melt fused in sarcoma (FUS) droplets by competing interaction with FUS. The findings in this study offer mechanistic insights as to how the C9orf72 repeat expansion disables nucleocytoplasmic transport and causes neurodegenerative diseases.


2021 ◽  
Vol 134 (2) ◽  
pp. jcs247874
Author(s):  
Giulia Paci ◽  
Joana Caria ◽  
Edward A. Lemke

ABSTRACTBidirectional transport of macromolecules across the nuclear envelope is a hallmark of eukaryotic cells, in which the genetic material is compartmentalized inside the nucleus. The nuclear pore complex (NPC) is the major gateway to the nucleus and it regulates nucleocytoplasmic transport, which is key to processes including transcriptional regulation and cell cycle control. Accordingly, components of the nuclear transport machinery are often found to be dysregulated or hijacked in diseases. In this Cell Science at a Glance article and accompanying poster, we provide an overview of our current understanding of cargo transport through the NPC, from the basic transport signals and machinery to more emerging aspects, all from a ‘cargo perspective’. Among these, we discuss the transport of large cargoes (>15 nm), as well as the roles of different cargo properties to nuclear transport, from size and number of bound nuclear transport receptors (NTRs), to surface and mechanical properties.


2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ogheneochukome Lolodi ◽  
Hiroya Yamazaki ◽  
Shotaro Otsuka ◽  
Masahiro Kumeta ◽  
Shige H. Yoshimura

Karyopherin-dependent molecular transport through the nuclear pore complex is maintained by constant recycling pathways of karyopherins coupled with the Ran-dependent cargo catch-and-release mechanism. Although many studies have revealed the bidirectional dynamics of karyopherins, the entire kinetics of the steady-state dynamics of karyopherin and cargo is still not fully understood. In this study, we used fluorescence recovery after photobleaching and fluorescence loss in photobleaching on live cells to provide convincing in vivo proof that karyopherin-mediated nucleocytoplasmic transport of cargoes is bidirectional. Continuous photobleaching of the cytoplasm of live cells expressing NLS cargoes led to progressive decrease of nuclear fluorescence signals. In addition, experimentally obtained kinetic parameters of karyopherin complexes were used to establish a kinetic model to explain the entire cargo import and export transport cycles facilitated by importin β. The results strongly indicate that constant shuttling of karyopherins, either free or bound to cargo, ensures proper balancing of nucleocytoplasmic distribution of cargoes and establishes effective regulation of cargo dynamics by RanGTP.


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