Researchers construct a device that mimics one of nature's key transport machines

Tuesday, January 6, 2009 - 15:07 in Physics & Chemistry

(PhysOrg.com) -- To help protect its genes, a cell is highly selective about what it allows to move in and out of its nucleus. Yet that choosiness is regulated by just a thin barrier, perforated with tiny transport machines called nuclear pore complexes: protein-coated holes surrounded by flimsy, unfolded protein strands. Now, by building an artificial mimic of this membrane barrier and its pores, scientists have discovered a key to its selectivity and, in the process, have found a practical tool for drug development.

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