Title:SUMOylation in Control of Accurate Chromosome Segregation during Mitosis
VOLUME: 13 ISSUE: 5
Author(s):Jun Wan, Divya Subramonian and Xiang-Dong Zhang
Affiliation:Department of Biological Sciences, 5047 Gullen Mall, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan 48202, USA.
Keywords:Centromere, chromosome segregation, fibrous corona, kinetochore, mitosis, SUMOylation, SUMO interacting motif
(SIM), spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC).
Abstract:Posttranslational protein modification by small ubiquitin-related modifier (SUMO) has emerged as an important
regulatory mechanism for chromosome segregation during mitosis. This review focuses on how SUMOylation regulates
the centromere and kinetochore activities to achieve accurate chromosome segregation during mitosis. Kinetochores
are assembled on the specialized chromatin domains called centromeres and serve as the sites for attaching spindle microtubule
to segregate sister chromatids to daughter cells. Many proteins associated with mitotic centromeres and kinetochores
have been recently found to be modified by SUMO. Although we are still at the early stage of elucidating how SUMOylation
controls chromosome segregation during mitosis, a substantial progress has been achieved over the past decade.
Furthermore, a major theme that has emerged from the recent studies of SUMOylation in mitosis is that both SUMO
conjugation and deconjugation are critical for kinetochore assembly and disassembly. Lastly, we propose a model that
SUMOylation coordinates multiple centromere and kinetochore activities to ensure accurate chromosome segregation.