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Article: Nuclear Transport
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- Biology
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Nuclear Transport
The distinguishing feature of
eukaryotic cells
is the segregation of ribonucleic acid (RNA) synthesis and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) replication in the
nucleus
, keeping it separate from the
cytoplasmic
machinery for
protein
synthesis. As a consequence, messenger RNAs, ribosomal RNAs, transfer RNAs, and all cytoplasmic RNAs of nuclear origin must be transported from their site of synthesis in the nucleus to their final cytoplasmic destinations. Conversely, all nuclear proteins must be imported from the cytoplasm into the nucleus.
Traffic of
macromolecules
between the nucleus and cytoplasm occurs through nuclear pore complexes (NPCs). NPCs are large ...