A novel importin α from rice, a component involved in the process of nuclear protein transport1

Abstract
In eukaryotes, nuclear proteins that are transported into nuclei have nuclear localization signals (NLSs), which are recognized by proteins called importin α. We isolated a rice cDNA, #61L, and the corresponding gene that encodes a protein, which shows significant homology to the importin α. Although the encoded protein had only 23–27% amino acid identity to the importin αs from various organisms including plants, the fusion protein with glutathione S‐transferase showed a specific binding activity to the NLS of SV40 T‐antigen. These results suggest that the rice #61L protein is a novel importin α in plants.