Protein transport across the nucleus is a selective, multistep process involving several cytoplasmic factors. Proteins must be recognized as import substrates, dock at the nuclear pore complex and translocate across the nuclear envelope in an ATP-dependent fashion. Two cytosolic factors centrally involved in the recognition and docking process are the karyopherin alpha1 and karyopherin beta1 subunits. p62 glycoprotein is a nucleoporin that is not only involved in the nuclear import of proteins, but also the export of nascent mRNA strands. NTF2 (nuclear transport factor 2) interacts with nucleoporin p62 as a homodimer composed of two monomers, and may be an obligate component of functional p62. CRM1 has been shown to be an export receptor for leucine-rich proteins that contain the nuclear export signal (NES).
