Cartoon Explaining Nuclear Size (IMAGE)

University of California - Berkeley

Cartoon Explaining Nuclear Size

Caption

The nucleus of a Xenopus laevis egg cell, represented by the large frog at left, imports the protein importin-alpha (α) at a higher rate than does the nucleus of the smaller egg cells of Xenopus tropicalis (right). Because importin-alpha carries structural materials like lamin that line the inside of the nuclear envelope (NE), X. laevis builds a larger nucleus. Not shown is another protein, ntf2, that regulates the importation of large proteins like importin-alpha. Together, levels of importin-alpha and ntf2 determine the size of the nucleus in the African clawed frog. The squiggly lines inside the bubble cells represent the DNA inside the nucleus.

Credit

Favian Hernandez

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