Nuclear pore complexes are the forgotten bottleneck of aging — and long-lived species maintain them through transcript quality control, not structural reinforcement

We focus on DNA repair and protein turnover, but the nuclear pore complex (NPC) may be the ultimate longevity bottleneck. NPCs regulate everything that enters or exits the nucleus. In aging, they become leaky and clogged. Long-lived species don't reinforce NPC structure — they prevent the transcript clutter that jams them.