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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Jul 15.
Published in final edited form as: J Biol Chem. 2006 Dec 14;282(8):5101–5105. doi: 10.1074/jbc.R600026200

FIGURE 1. The classical nuclear import cycle.

FIGURE 1

In the cytoplasm, cargo containing a cNLS is bound by the heterodimeric import receptor, importin α/importin (32). Importin α recognizes the cNLS, and importin β mediates interactions with the nuclear pore during translocation. Once inside the nucleus, RanGTP binding causes a conformational change in importin β, which releases the IBB region of importin α. This autoinhibitory domain, together with Nup2 and Cse1, facilitates cNLS dissociation and delivery of the cNLS cargo in the nucleus (35, 36). Finally, importin α is recycled back to the cytoplasm by the export receptor, Cse1, in complex with RanGTP (40, 41).