nuclear envelope lumen

GO:0005641 · Membrane organelle · Subcellular region · Proposed

The region between the two lipid bilayers of the nuclear envelope. [GO:0005641]

Synonyms: perinuclear space

Part of: nuclear envelope (GO:0005635)

Taxonomic distribution

NCBITaxon:2759 Eukaryota — COMMON: Eukaryotic nuclear envelopes contain a lumenal space between the inner and outer nuclear membranes. [DOI:10.1101/cshperspect.a000539]

The nuclear envelope lumen is the envelope compartment between the inner and outer nuclear membranes.

Subject	Predicate	Object	Evidence
nuclear envelope lumen	is part of	nuclear envelope	`GO:0005641` GO:0005641 defines the nuclear envelope lumen as the region between the two lipid bilayers of the nuclear envelope. `GO:0005635` GO:0005635 identifies the containing nuclear envelope.
nuclear inner membrane	delimits	nuclear envelope lumen	`GO:0005641` GO:0005641 identifies the nuclear envelope lumen by its position between the envelope bilayers. `GO:0005637` GO:0005637 defines the inner nuclear membrane as the lumen-facing nuclear-envelope bilayer.
nuclear outer membrane	delimits	nuclear envelope lumen	`GO:0005641` GO:0005641 identifies the nuclear envelope lumen by its position between the envelope bilayers. `GO:0005640` GO:0005640 defines the outer nuclear membrane as the cytoplasm-facing nuclear-envelope bilayer.
nuclear envelope lumen	is continuous with	endoplasmic reticulum lumen	`DOI:10.1101/cshperspect.a000539` Hetzer 2010 reviews the nuclear envelope as an ER-continuous double membrane with an enclosed perinuclear space. `GO:0005788` GO:0005788 identifies the endoplasmic reticulum lumen.

INTERPRETATION (RESOLVED): Keep the nuclear inner and outer membranes as lumen boundaries rather than as nuclear envelope lumen components. GO:0005641 denotes the region between the inner and outer lipid bilayers of the nuclear envelope, whereas GO:0005637 and GO:0005640 denote those bordering bilayers.

GO:0005641 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for nuclear envelope lumen.
GO:0031970 Gene Ontology cellular-component parent term for organelle envelope lumen.
GO:0005635 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the containing nuclear envelope.
GO:0005637 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the bordering nuclear inner membrane.
GO:0005640 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the bordering nuclear outer membrane.
DOI:10.1101/cshperspect.a000539 Hetzer 2010, 'The Nuclear Envelope', Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology.
GO:0005788 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the endoplasmic reticulum lumen continuous with the nuclear envelope lumen.

2026-09-15T06:49:46Z codex · CREATED_RECORD — Scaffolded by scripts/new_record.py
2026-09-15T06:50:49Z codex · EXPANDED_RECORD — Added organelle-envelope-lumen parentage, nuclear-envelope parthood, Eukaryota scope, DOI/GO evidence, a nonmechanistic topology graph, and a boundary interpretation.
2026-09-15T06:51:24Z codex · TIGHTENED_EVIDENCE — Removed an indirect Saccharomyces example and King et al. citation; left the first lumen record focused on directly GO-backed topology and a broad nuclear-envelope review.
2026-09-15T07:09:32Z codex · REVIEW_FIX — Addressed review issues #944 and #945 by adding exact perinuclear-space synonymy and connecting the nuclear envelope lumen topology graph to the endoplasmic reticulum lumen.