Figure 2. siRNA-approach to identify the import receptor for hTERT.

A, HeLa cells were treated with a control siRNA or with siRNAs against importin β, transportin, importin 9 or importin 7 and transfected with plasmids coding for hTERT-GFP, myc-EZI, NES-GFP₂-M9 or NES-GFP₂-NLS, as indicated. Cells were fixed and analyzed by fluorescent microscopy. EZI was detected using an antibody against the myc-tag. Bars, 10 µm. B, Quantification of the results shown in A. Error bars depict the standard deviation from the mean of at least three independent experiments. Asterisks indicate p-values <0,02 (*) or <0,002 (**), compared to the control. C, Lysates of control cells and importin β-, importin 9- or importin 7-depleted cells were analyzed by immunoblotting. Tubulin was used as a loading control.