Two distinct human POM121 genes: Requirement for the formation of nuclear pore complexes

Pom121 is one of the integral membrane components of the nuclear pore complex (NPC) in vertebrate cells. Unlike ro- dent cells carrying a single POM121 gene, human cells possess multiple POM121 gene loci on chromosome 7q11.23, as a consequence of complex segmental-duplications in this region during human evolution. In HeLa cells, two full-length Pom121 are transcribed and translated by two distinct genetic loci. RNAi experiments showed that efficient depletion of both Pom121 proteins significantly reduces assembled NPCs on nuclear envelope. Pom121-depletion also induced clustering of NPCs, indicating its role on maintenance of NPC structure/organization. (c) 2007 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.