importinok
Importinok is a hypothetical nuclear transport receptor used in theoretical discussions of nucleocytoplasmic trafficking and in teaching materials to illustrate import mechanisms. It is described as a member of the karyopherin family and is typically portrayed as a soluble, HEAT-repeat–containing protein that recognizes cargo carrying a nuclear localization signal.
It binds cargo in the cytoplasm, travels through the nuclear pore complex, and releases the cargo in
It is often depicted as functioning alongside adaptor proteins that increase specificity for certain cargoes, although
In this way, importinok helps illustrate core concepts of nucleocytoplasmic transport without tying them to a