The fate of metaphase kinetochores is weighed in the balance of SUMOylation during S phase

Genetic evidence suggests that conjugation of Small Ubiquitin-like Modifier proteins (SUMOs) plays an important role in kinetochore function, although the mechanism underlying these observations are poorly defined. We found that depletion of the SUMO protease SENP6 from HeLa cells causes chromosome misalignment, prolonged mitotic arrest and chromosome missegregation. Many inner kinetochore proteins (IKPs) were mis-localized in SENP6-depleted cells. This gross mislocalization of IKPs is due to proteolytic degradation of CENP-I and CENP-H via the SUMO targeted Ubiquitin Ligase (STUbL) pathway. Our findings show that SENP6 is a key regulator of inner kinetochore assembly that antagonizes the cellular STUbL pathway to protect IKPs from degradation during S phase. Here, we will briefly review the implications of our findings and present new data on how SUMOylation during S phase can control chromosome alignment in the subsequent metaphase.