New model of a nuclear pore complex is based on crystal structure of its key component

Everything that goes in and out of a cell’s nucleus must pass through one of its nuclear pores. In the second nuclear pore study to come out of Rockefeller University in as many months, researchers have determined the crystal structure of one of the pore’s main components and used it to propose an overall structure for the circular pore, rings of alternating protein complexes that fit together like two sides of a zipper.