Dynamic Encounters of Genes and Transcripts with the Nuclear Pore

Transcribed mRNA molecules must reach the cytoplasm to undergo translation. Technological developments in imaging have placed mRNAs under the spotlight, allowing the quantitative study of the spatial and temporal dynamics of the nucleocytoplasmic mRNA export process. Here, we discuss studies that have used such experimental approaches to demonstrate that gene tethering at the nuclear pore complex (NPC) regulates mRNA expression, and to characterize mRNA dynamics during transport in real time. The paths taken by mRNAs as they move from their sites of transcription and travel through the nucleoplasm, in between chromatin domains, and finally through the NPC, can now be observed in detail.