Nuclear Pore and Genome Organization and Gene Expression in Drosophila

Regulation of gene expression is central to the cell’s ability to respond to external cues and to establish and maintain its developmental identity. The Nuclear Pore Complex (NPC) forms the nuclear envelope-spanning channel that mediates selective nucleo-cytoplasmic transport of macromolecules. In addition to contributing to gene expression via its transport functions, the NPC comes in close contact with the underlying chromatin and plays a role in regulation of gene expression of the associated gene targets. In recent years, studies in Drosophila and other organisms have identified numerous physiological roles for NPC components, including functions in immune response, tissue-specific development, epigenetic processes and neurodegeneration. This chapter focuses on the current knowledge of the physiological roles of NPC components and on the relationship between the NPC and chromatin regulation, obtained in the fly model. Findings, described here, demonstrate the far-reaching potential of NPC components to regulate gene expression via both transport and chromatin-binding mechanisms. Furthermore, they reveal Drosophila to be a useful experimental system for future dissections of the in vivo phenotypes and gene regulatory functions of the NPC.