Alwayssunnyinarizona t1_isi5agh wrote on October 16, 2022 at 4:04 AM

You got it. They'll most often have a nuclear localization sequence - a "tag" of a short length of amino acids that tell the cell "this one goes to the nucleus."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_localization_sequence

Xilon-Diguus t1_isjd1lp wrote on October 16, 2022 at 12:59 PM

It is also worth pointing out that we do this on purpose and can modify the proteins we insert into genomes to contain an NLS (Nuclear Localization Sequence).

Alwayssunnyinarizona t1_isjlsrx wrote on October 16, 2022 at 2:12 PM

A protein I work with has a plasma membrane localization sequence, but we delete it because it's unnecessary for our studies 👍

There are a whole host of these signal peptides routing proteins all over the cell: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_peptide

scuba_dooby_doo OP t1_isk7pbl wrote on October 16, 2022 at 4:42 PM

Thank you for answering a 3am thought of this bio student! And for also answering my next question of how the cell 'knows' where to send it!