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Updated: Aug 5, 2026

Protein Purification Technique that Allows Detection of Sumoylation and Ubiquitination of Budding Yeast Kinetochore Proteins Ndc10 and Ndc80
Published on: May 3, 2015
Shaping meiotic chromosomes with SUMO: a feedback loop controls the assembly of the synaptonemal complex in budding
Hideo Tsubouchi1, Bilge Argunhan1, Tomomi Tsubouchi2
1Genome Damage and Stability Centre, Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton BN19RQ, UK.
Abstract:
The synaptonemal complex (SC) is a meiosis-specific chromosomal structure in which homologous chromosomes are intimately linked through arrays of specialized proteins called transverse filaments (TF). Widely conserved in eukaryote meiosis, the SC forms during prophase I and is essential for accurate segregation of homologous chromosomes at meiosis I. However, the basic mechanism overlooking formation and regulation of the SC has been poorly understood. By using the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we recently showed that SC formation is controlled through the attachment of multiple molecules of small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) to a regulator of TF assembly. Intriguingly, this SUMOylation is activated by TF, implicating the involvement of a positive feedback loop in the control of SC assembly. We discuss the implication of this finding and possible involvement of a similar mechanism in regulating other processes.
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