Bidirectional traffic occurs continuously between the cytosol and the nucleus. The many proteins that function in the nucleus—including histones, DNA and RNA polymerases, gene regulatory proteins, and RNA-processing proteins—are selectively imported into the nuclear compartment from the cytosol, where they are made. At the same time, tRNAs and mRNAs are synthesized in the nuclear compartment and then exported to the cytosol. Like the import process, the export process is selective; mRNAs, for example, are exported only after they have been properly modified by RNA-processing reactions in the nucleus. In some cases the transport process is complex: ribosomal proteins, for instance, are made in the cytosol, imported into the nucleus—where they assemble with newly made ribosomal RNA into particles—and are then exported again to the cytosol as part of a ribosomal subunit. Each of these steps requires selective transport across the nuclear envelope.
Nuclear pore complexes allow the transport of molecules across the nuclear envelope. This transport includes RNA and ribosomal proteins moving from nucleus to the cytoplasm and proteins (such as DNA polymerase and lamins), carbohydrates, signaling molecules and lipids moving into the nucleus.