Viral manipulation of the cellular sumoylation machinery

Viruses exploit various cellular processes for their own benefit, including counteracting anti-viral responses and regulating viral replication and propagation. In the past 20 years, protein sumoylation has emerged as an important post-translational modification that is manipulated by viruses to modulate anti-viral responses, viral replication, and viral pathogenesis. The process of sumoylation is a multi-step cascade where a small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) is covalently attached to a conserved psi KxD/E motif within a target protein, altering the function of the modified protein. Here we review how viruses manipulate the cellular machinery at each step of the sumoylation process to favor viral survival and pathogenesis.