. "In eukaryotes, nuclear proteins that are transported into nuclei have nuclear localization signals (NLSs), which are recognized by proteins called importin alpha. We isolated a rice cDNA, #61L, and the corresponding gene that encodes a protein, which shows significant homology to the importin alpha. Although the encoded protein had only 23-27% amino acid identity to the importin alphas 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 alpha in plants." . . . "FEBS Lett." . "Iwasaki T." . "Yamamoto N." . "Shoji K." . "Sanmiya K." . "Miyao M." . "Matsuki R." . "1998"^^ . "259-262" . "A novel importin alpha from rice, a component involved in the process of nuclear protein transport." . "428" . "doi:10.1016/S0014-5793(98)00540-7" .