SUMO Conjugation in Yeast Cell Lysates

DNA topoisomerase II (Topo II), named Top2 in budding and fission yeast, is a conserved target of the SUMO modification pathway, with SUMO-conjugated forms of Topo II accumulating specifically during mitosis in both yeast and vertebrate cells (Bachant et al., Mol Cell 9, 1169–82, 2002; Azuma et al., J Cell Biol 163, 477–87, 2003; Dawlaty et al., Cell 133, 103–15, 2008). As with many SUMO substrates, the functional significance of this modification is still incompletely understood and, perhaps surprisingly, better characterized in vertebrates than yeasts. It seems likely, however, that continued analysis of yeast Top2 SUMO modification will reveal commonalities with vertebrate cells, leading to a deeper understanding of how sumoylation regulates Topo II function. Toward this end, we describe a protocol for analyzing yeast Top2 SUMO conjugates in vivo.