Volume 30, No 6, Jun 2020

ISSN: 1001-0602 
EISSN: 1748-7838 2018 
impact factor 17.848* 
(Clarivate Analytics, 2019)

Volume 30 Issue 6, June 2020: 532-540   |  Open Access

ORIGINAL ARTICLES

Molecular architecture of the luminal ring of the Xenopus laevis nuclear pore complex

Yanqing Zhang^1,2,† , Sai Li^3,4,† , Chao Zeng^4,† , Gaoxingyu Huang^3,† , Xuechen Zhu^1,2,† , Qifan Wang^1,2 , Kunpeng Wang⁵ , Qiang Zhou^1,2 , Chuangye Yan³ , Wusheng Zhang⁵ , Guangwen Yang⁵ , Minhao Liu³ , Qinghua Tao³ , Jianlin Lei³ , Yigong Shi^1,2,3,4,*

¹Key Laboratory of Structural Biology of Zhejiang Province, School of Life Sciences, Westlake University, 18 Shilongshan Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310024, China;
²Institute of Biology, Westlake Institute for Advanced Study, 18 Shilongshan Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310024, China;
³Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Structural Biology & Frontier Research Center for Biological Structure, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China;
⁴Tsinghua University-Peking University Joint Center for Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
⁵Tsinghua Computing Facility & Department of Computer Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
^†These authors contributed equally
Correspondence: Yigong Shi(syg@westlake.edu.cn)

The nuclear pore complex (NPC) mediates the flow of substances between the nucleus and cytoplasm in eukaryotic cells. Here we report the cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) structure of the luminal ring (LR) of the NPC from Xenopus laevis oocyte. The observed key structural features of the LR are independently confirmed by single-particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) analysis. The LR comprises eight butterfly-shaped subunits, each containing two symmetric wings. Each wing consists of four elongated, tubular protomers. Within the LR subunit, the eight protomers form a Finger domain, which directly contacts the fusion between the inner and outer nuclear membranes and a Grid domain, which serves as a rigid base for the Finger domain. Two neighboring LR subunits interact with each other through the lateral edges of their wings to constitute a Bumper domain, which displays two major conformations and appears to cushion neighboring NPCs. Our study reveals previously unknown features of the LR and potentially explains the elastic property of the NPC.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41422-020-0320-y

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