Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Messenger RNAs carry the information for the assembly of proteins from the DNA in the cell nucleus to the sites of protein synthesis in the cytoplasm, and are crucial for cell function. In nerve cells, which form cytoplasmic processes that can be very long, many neuronal mRNAs must be conveyed to the sites of action of their protein products to ensure that the correct intercellular connections can be established. This requires a dedicated transport system that links remote regions of the cytoplasm with the cell nucleus. Dierk Niessing, a professor at LMU's Biomedical Center and leader of a research group in the Institute of Structural Biology at the Helmholtz Zentrum München, has now characterized the structure of a macromolecular complex involved in the transport of mRNAs in yeast cells. The new findings appear in the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.
[...] The new data represent a major advance in our understanding of the transport of RNA -- a process that is common to all organisms whose cells are nucleated and is vital for their survival.
