Differential mRNA localization of karyopherin-β2 homologs in C. elegans and humans
- 1Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
Abstract
In Caenorhabditis elegans embryos, the nuclear transport receptor IMB-2 (Importin Beta Family-2, a karyopherin {beta}2) preferentially localizes to the nuclear envelope along with its encoding mRNA. This suggests that imb-2 mRNA is locally translated at the nuclear envelope. To test whether imb-2's two putative human orthologs, Transportin 1 (TNPO1) and Transportin 2 (TNPO2), exhibited similar mRNA localization, we performed smiFISH and microscopy in U2OS, HeLa, and human pluripotent stem cells. Neither human TNPO1 nor TNPO2 mRNA localized to the nuclear envelope in any tested human cell type. However, the human TNPO1 protein and the C. elegans IMB-2 protein both localized to the nucleus and its periphery. This suggests that despite their shared functional roles these karyopherins have different routes to expression.
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BibTeX
@misc{basu2026differential,
title = {{Differential mRNA localization of karyopherin-β2 homologs in C. elegans and humans}},
author = {A. Basu and N. Tayefeh and L. P. Winkenbach and E. Osborne Nishimura},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = may,
doi = {10.64898/2026.05.19.726232},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.19.726232v2},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Differential mRNA localization of karyopherin-β2 homologs in C. elegans and humans
AU - A. Basu
AU - N. Tayefeh
AU - L. P. Winkenbach
AU - E. Osborne Nishimura
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/05/19
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.05.19.726232
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.19.726232v2
AB - In Caenorhabditis elegans embryos, the nuclear transport receptor IMB-2 (Importin Beta Family-2, a karyopherin {beta}2) preferentially localizes to the nuclear envelope along with its encoding mRNA. This suggests that imb-2 mRNA is locally translated at the nuclear envelope. To test whether imb-2's two putative human orthologs, Transportin 1 (TNPO1) and Transportin 2 (TNPO2), exhibited similar mRNA localization, we performed smiFISH and microscopy in U2OS, HeLa, and human pluripotent stem cells. Neither human TNPO1 nor TNPO2 mRNA localized to the nuclear envelope in any tested human cell type. However, the human TNPO1 protein and the C. elegans IMB-2 protein both localized to the nucleus and its periphery. This suggests that despite their shared functional roles these karyopherins have different routes to expression.
ER -