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Chromatin SUMOylation in heat stress: To protect, pause and organise?
Author(s) -
Niskanen Einari A.,
Palvimo Jorma J.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
bioessays
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.175
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1521-1878
pISSN - 0265-9247
DOI - 10.1002/bies.201600263
Subject(s) - sumo protein , chromatin , microbiology and biotechnology , promoter , transcription (linguistics) , enhancer , biology , chia pet , rna polymerase ii , transcription factor , chromatin remodeling , genetics , gene , gene expression , ubiquitin , linguistics , philosophy
Post‐translational modifications, e.g. SUMO modifications (SUMOylation), provide a mechanism for swiftly changing a protein's activity. Various stress conditions trigger a SUMO stress response (SSR) – a stress‐induced rapid change in the conjugation of SUMO to multiple proteins, which predominantly targets nuclear proteins. The SSR has been postulated to protect stressed cells by preserving the functionality of crucial proteins. However, it is unclear how it exerts its protective functions. Interestingly, heat stress (HS) increases SUMOylation of proteins at active promoters and enhancers. In promoters, HS‐induced SUMOylation correlates with gene transcription and stress‐induced RNA polymerase II (Pol2) pausing. Conversely, a disappearance of SUMOylation in HS occurs at chromatin anchor points that maintain chromatin‐looping structures and the spatial organisation of chromatin. In reviewing the literature, we hypothesise that the SSR regulates Pol2 pausing by modulating the interactions of pausing‐regulating proteins, whereas deSUMOylation alters the function of chromatin anchors.