Biochemical and Structural Insights Into SUMO Conjugation and Recognition

In the course of my doctoral research I was able to identify a surface on the SUMO E2 Ubc9 involved in MEF2A PDSM discrimination. Also, I biochemically characterized interactions between PCNA, SUMO, and Srs2 and purified preparative quantities of SUMO modified PCNA for crystallographic experiments, which produced two crystal structures of the PCNA SUMO adduct. The experiments outlined in these studies offer novel insights into conjugation and recognition by the small ubiquitin-like modifier, SUMO, which will provide a broader understanding of this post-translational modification pathway.