Shuttling transport receptors carry cargo through nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) via transient interactions with Phe-Gly (FG)-rich nucleoporins. Here, we identify Arx1, a factor associated with a late 60S preribosomal particle in the nucleus, as an unconventional export receptor. Arx1 binds directly to FG nucleoporins and exhibits facilitated translocation through NPCs. Moreover, Arx1 functionally overlaps with the other 60S export receptors, Xpo1 and Mex67-Mtr2, and is genetically linked to nucleoporins. Unexpectedly, Arx1 is structurally unrelated to known shuttling transport receptors but homologous to methionine aminopeptidases (MetAPs), however, without enzymatic activity. Typically, the MetAP fold creates a central cavity that binds the methionine. In contrast, the predicted central cavity of Arx1 is involved in the interaction with FG repeat nucleoporins and 60S subunit export. Thus, an ancient enzyme fold has been adopted by Arx1 to function as a nuclear export receptor.

We report on new insights into the mechanisms of short single and double stranded oligonucleotide release from cationic lipid complexes (lipoplexes), used in gene therapy. Specifically, we modeled endosomal membranes using giant unilamellar vesicles and investigated the roles of various individual cellular phospholipids in interaction with lipoplexes. Our approach uses a combination of confocal imaging, fluorescence cross-correlation spectroscopy and single particle tracking, revealing several new aspects of the release: (a) phosphatidylserine and phosphatidylethanolamine are equally active in disassembling lipoplexes, while phosphatidylcholine and sphingomyelin are inert; (b) in contrast to earlier findings, phosphatidylethanolamine alone, in the absence of anionic phosphatidylserine triggers extensive release; (c) a double-stranded DNA structure remains well preserved after release; (d) lipoplexes exhibited preferential binding to transient lipid domains, which appear at the onset of lipoplex attachment to originally uniform membranes and vanish after initiation of polynucleotide release. The latter effect is likely related to phosphatidyleserine redistribution in membranes due to lipoplex binding. Real time tracking of single DOTAP/DOPE and DOTAP/DOPC lipoplexes showed that both particles remained compact and associated with membranes up to 1-2 min before fusion, indicating that a more complex mechanism, different from suggested earlier rapid fusion, promotes more efficient transfection by DOTAP/DOPE complexes.

The osmotic lysis of pinosomes procedure has been adapted to deliver small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) into cells in culture. Under hypertonic conditions, siRNAs were internalized into pinosomes. A subsequent osmotic shock in hypotonic buffer disrupted the pinosomes and caused the release of siRNAs into the cell cytoplasm. Both steps could be demonstrated directly using fluorescein-labeled siRNAs and confocal laser-scanning microscopy. Uptake by the pinocytosis/osmotic lysis procedure is concentration- and time-dependent. At an siRNA concentration of 0.4 microM, treatment for 40 or 80 min results in silencing efficiencies of 60% and 90%, respectively, after 44 h. A double treatment resulted in approximately equal silencing efficiencies but in reduced viability. This method has been used on a variety of human and murine cell lines including HEK293, HeLa SS6, and SW3T3 cells. Targets such as lamin A/C and Eg5 were effectively silenced. Novel silencing data are provided for Ki67, one of the few reliable prognostic markers for tumor patients. The new procedure avoids certain technical problems encountered with commercial transfection reagents while yielding silencing efficiencies that are comparable to those obtained with liposome-mediated siRNA transfection.