In acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL), the promyelocytic leukaemia (PML) protein is fused to the retinoic acid receptor alpha (RAR). This disease can be treated effectively with arsenic, which induces PML modification by small ubiquitin-like modifiers (SUMO) and proteasomal degradation. Here we demonstrate that the RING-domain-containing ubiquitin E3 ligase, RNF4 (also known as SNURF), targets poly-SUMO-modified proteins for degradation mediated by ubiquitin. RNF4 depletion or proteasome inhibition led to accumulation of mixed, polyubiquitinated, poly-SUMO chains. PML protein accumulated in RNF4-depleted cells and was ubiquitinated by RNF4 in a SUMO-dependent fashion in vitro. In the absence of RNF4, arsenic failed to induce degradation of PML and SUMO-modified PML accumulated in the nucleus. These results demonstrate that poly-SUMO chains can act as discrete signals from mono-SUMOylation, in this case targeting a poly-SUMOylated substrate for ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis.

A Bub1–Mad1 interaction targets the Mad1–Mad2 complex to unattached kinetochores to initiate the spindle checkpoint.

SUMMARY During cell division, genome inheritance is orchestrated by microtubule attachments formed at kinetochores of mitotic chromosomes. The primary microtubule coupler at the kinetochore, the Ndc80 complex, is regulated by Aurora kinase phosphorylation of its N-terminal tail. Dephosphorylation is proposed to stabilize kinetochore-microtubule attachments by strengthening electrostatic interactions of the tail with the microtubule lattice. Here, we show that removal of the Ndc80 tail, which compromises in vitro microtubule binding, has no effect on kinetochore-microtubule attachments in the C. elegans embryo. Despite this, preventing Aurora phosphorylation of the tail results in prematurely stable attachments that restrain spindle elongation. This premature stabilization requires the conserved microtubule-binding Ska complex, which enriches at attachment sites prior to anaphase onset to dampen chromosome motion. We propose that Ndc80 tail dephosphorylation promotes stabilization of kinetochore-microtubule attachments via the Ska complex and that this mechanism ensures accurate segregation by constraining chromosome motion following biorientation on the spindle.