Nucleophosmin (NPM/B23) is a key regulator in the regulation of a number of processes including centrosome duplication, maintenance of genomic integrity, and ribosome biogenesis. While the mechanisms underlying NPM function are largely uncharacterized, NPM loss results in severe dysregulation of developmental and growth-related events. We show that NPM utilizes a conserved CRM1-dependent nuclear export sequence in its amino terminus to enable its shuttling between the nucleolus/nucleus and cytoplasm. In search of NPM trafficking targets, we biochemically purified NPM-bound protein complexes from HeLa cell lysates. Consistent with NPM's proposed role in ribosome biogenesis, we isolated ribosomal protein L5 (rpL5), a known chaperone for the 5S rRNA. Direct interaction of NPM with rpL5 mediated the colocalization of NPM with maturing nuclear 60S ribosomal subunits, as well as newly exported and assembled 80S ribosomes and polysomes. Inhibition of NPM shuttling or loss of NPM blocked the nuclear export of rpL5 and 5S rRNA, resulting in cell cycle arrest and demonstrating that NPM and its nuclear export provide a unique and necessary chaperoning activity to rpL5/5S.As the most prominent of subnuclear structures, the nucleolus has long been recognized as the site of active transcription of rRNA and ribosome assembly (8). Various nucleolar proteins, RNAs, and other factors have been implicated in the complex process of ribosome production and maturation (18). Recently, several groups reported the successful isolation and mapping of the mammalian nucleolar proteome (1, 2, 44). While these studies clearly identified proteins and ribonucleoproteins with purported roles in ribosome biogenesis, a surprising number of proteins within the nucleolar proteome (Ͼ100) have no known function. In previous decades, it was assumed that all nucleolar proteins must somehow contribute to static ribosome biogenesis simply by virtue of their localization. However, more-recent findings have demonstrated that the nucleolus is a dynamic subnuclear organelle which regulates numerous cellular processes, prompting a broadened view of the potential functions of nucleolar proteins (28).Nucleophosmin (NPM/B23) is an abundant phosphoprotein that resides within the granular regions of the nucleolus (46). Proliferating cells express NPM at high levels (9, 13), and NPM has been associated with a variety of cellular events, including ribosomal biogenesis, protein chaperoning, and centrosome duplication (13,23,35,36). Structurally, NPM is present in both monomeric and multimeric states, although NPM multimers appear predominant in the nucleolus and may be crucial for the assembly of maturing ribosomes (33,34,53). Furthermore, NPM, along with other nucleolar proteins, is believed (or has been shown) to actively mobilize into distinct subcellular pools, supporting the notion that NPM trafficking may be essential for its (proper) function (6). Indeed, NPM's transit from the nucleolus/nucleus is an essential event in S phase progression; when NPM export was...