Hydrophobic interactions of FG-nucleoporins are required for dilating nuclear membrane pores into selective transport channels after mitosis

Abstract Nuclear envelope (NE) reformation after mitosis is essential for daughter cell viability and requires tightly coordinated nuclear pore complex (NPC) assembly and nuclear membrane reformation. Here we combined acute molecular perturbations in live cells with correlative three-dimensional electron tomography or MINFLUX super-resolution microscopy to show that degrading Nup62 during mitosis arrests NPC assembly at an intermediate step with smaller membrane pores and removes the whole central transport channel. Molecular dynamics simulations predicted that 32 copies of the central channel subcomplex, recruited into the previously unoccupied pore center, can self-associate through hydrophobic interactions to occupy and expand pore volume, exerting an outward-pushing force; indeed, disrupting these interactions during NPC assembly blocked pore dilation. Later in mitotic exit, perturbed cells exhibited impaired nuclear import, smaller nuclei and looser NE spacing. Acute inhibition of nuclear import recapitulated these NE defects without affecting NPC assembly. Together, our findings reveal a two-step molecular mechanism linking NPC assembly and NE reformation. First, hydrophobic FG-nucleoporins dilate the assembling nuclear pore by forming the central transport channel, which then allows nuclear-import-driven nuclear expansion, leading to tight, regular NE membrane spacing.