STUDYING NF-KAPPA B TRANSLOCATION BETWEEN NUCLEUS AND CYTOPLASM BY ELECTROPORATIVE FLOW CYTOMETRY

Transport of protein and RNA cargoes between the nucleus and cytoplasm (nucleocytoplasmic transport) is vital for a variety of cellular functions. In this report, we describe using a novel method, microfluidic electroporative flow cytometry, to study kinetics of nucleocytoplasmic transport of an important transcription factor NF-�B. With data collected from single cells, we quantitatively characterize the population-averaged kinetic parameters such as the rate constants and apparent activation barrier for NF-�B transport. Our data demonstrate that NF-�B nucleocytoplasmic transport fits first-order kinetics very well and is a fairly reversible process governed by equilibrium thermodynamics.