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. 2002 Dec;83(6):3079–3087. doi: 10.1016/s0006-3495(02)75312-5

The nuclear pore complex mystery and anomalous diffusion in reversible gels.

Thomas Bickel 1, Robijn Bruinsma 1
PMCID: PMC1302387  PMID: 12496079

Abstract

The exchange of macromolecules between the cytoplasm and the nucleus of eukaryotic cells takes place through the nuclear pore complex (NPC), which contains a selective permeability barrier. Experiments on the physical properties of this barrier appear to be in conflict with current physical understanding of the rheology of reversible gels. This paper proposes that the NPC gel is anomalous and characterized by connectivity fluctuations. It develops a simplified model to demonstrate the possibility of enhanced diffusion constants of macromolecules trapped in such a gel.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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