A Proteome-wide Approach Identifies Sumoylated Substrate Proteins in Yeast

Abstract

The ubiquitin-related protein SUMO-1 is covalently attached to proteins by SUMO-1 ligases. We have performed a proteome-wide analysis of sumoylated substrate proteins in yeast. Employing the powerful affinity purification of Protein A-Smt3 (Smt3 is the yeast homologue of SUMO-1) from yeast lysates in combination with tandem liquid chromatography mass spectrometry, we have isolated potential Smt3-carrying substrate proteins involved in DNA replication and repair, chromatin remodeling, transcription activation, Pol-I, Pol-II, and Pol-III transcription, 5 pre-mRNA capping, 3 pre-mRNA processing, proteasome function, and tubulin folding. Employing tandem affinity purifications or a rapid biochemical assay referred to as "SUMO fingerprint," we showed that several subunits of RNA polymerases I, II, and III, members of the transcription repression and chromatin remodeling machineries previously not known to be sumoylated, are modified by SUMO-1. Thus, the identification of a broad range of SUMO-1 substrate proteins is expected to lead to further insight into the regulatory aspects of sumoylation.The ubiquitin-like protein SUMO-1 (Smt3 in yeast) is a 100-residue protein that is conjugated to substrate proteins by sequential thioester transfer reactions via specific E1 1 activating enzymes (Uba2/Aos1) and E2 (Ubc9) conjugating enzyme (1, 2). SUMO is conjugated to specific lysine residues on substrate proteins typically exhibiting consensus sites hKxE, where h is a hydrophobic amino acid (3, 4). Unlike ubiquitylation, sumoylation of target proteins does not lead to proteasomal degradation but can affect diverse functions of the protein, such as subcellular localization, protein/DNA interaction, or enzymatic activity (5, 6).Smt3 is highly conserved and essential in yeast. In addition, the conjugating and deconjugating machinery are conserved from yeast to humans and perform essential functions in yeast. The only yeast proteins known to be modified by Smt3 are the nonessential septins involved in cytokinesis and the essential Pol30, Top2, and Pds5 (7-9). A growing number of proteins that are modified by SUMO-1 in mammalian cells have been reported (6). Recent proteomic approaches in mammalian cells have identified new proteins that are subject to SUMO-1 and SUMO-2 modification (10 -12). The confirmation of sumoylation of target proteins in these approaches was limited by the need for protein specific antibodies.Previously, we have shown that the deconjugating enzyme Ulp1 is tethered to the nuclear pore channel via nuclear import receptors (13). The biological significance of such a tethering mechanism is poorly understood because of the lack of knowledge about its substrate proteins. Yeast has served as a powerful, rapid, genetic and in vivo biochemical model system to gain mechanistic insights into protein function in eukaryotes. Hence, we applied a proteomic approach in yeast to unravel the SUMO proteome. We have enriched sumoylated proteins from yeast cell lysates using the high affinity tag of Protein A (ProtA). In this...

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