The SUMO pathway is developmentally regulated and required for programmed DNA elimination in Paramecium tetraurelia.

ABSTRACT: Extensive genome-wide remodeling occurs during the formation of the somatic macronuclei from the germ line micronuclei in ciliated protozoa. This process is limited to sexual reproduction and includes DNA amplification, chromosome fragmentation, and the elimination of internal segments of DNA. Our efforts to define the pathways regulating these events revealed a gene encoding a homologue of ubiquitin activating enzyme 2 (UBA2) that is upregulated at the onset of macronuclear development in Paramecium tetraurelia. Uba2 enzymes are known to activate the protein called small ubiquitin-related modifier (SUMO) that is covalently attached to target proteins. Consistent with this relationship, Northern analysis showed increased abundance of SUMO transcripts during sexual reproduction in Parameciu

SUBMITTER: Matsuda A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1459683 | biostudies-literature | 2006 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature