1,10-phenanthroline inhibits sumoylation and reveals that yeast SUMO modifications are highly transient.

ABSTRACT: The steady-state levels of protein sumoylation depend on relative rates of conjugation and desumoylation. Whether SUMO modifications are generally long-lasting or short-lived is unknown. Here we show that treating budding yeast cultures with 1,10-phenanthroline abolishes most SUMO conjugations within one minute, without impacting ubiquitination, an analogous post-translational modification. 1,10-phenanthroline inhibits the formation of the E1~SUMO thioester intermediate, demonstrating that it targets the first step in the sumoylation pathway. SUMO conjugations are retained after treatment with 1,10-phenanthroline in yeast that express a defective form of the desumoylase Ulp1, indicating that Ulp1 is responsible for eliminating existing SUMO modifications almost instantly when de novo sumoy

SUBMITTER: McNeil JB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10897377 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature