Homologous recombination (HR) is a major pathway to repair DNA double-strand breaks and single strand gaps, and to facilitate the recovery of stalled or collapsed replication forks (
1,
2). However, HR can also cause genome rearrangements or impede other DNA repair processes (
3). Therefore, multi-layered regulation is critical to harness the benefits of HR and prevent its undesirable outcomes (
4). In
Saccharomyces cerevisiae, one mode of HR regulation utilizes the Srs2 protein, a 3′ to 5′ helicase and ssDNA translocase. It shares sequence homology and functional similarity with the bacterial helicases UvrD, Rep and PcrA, and mammalian Fbh1 and PARI proteins (
5–7). A key role of Srs2 is to negatively regulate HR at replication forks and to channel DNA lesions into the post-replicative repair (PRR) pathway mediated by proteins such as Rad6, Rad18 and Rad5. Indeed, mutants of
SRS2 (
suppressor of
rad
six) were first isolated as suppressors of the DNA damage sensitivity of
rad6 and
rad18 mutants, and this suppression requires HR (
8,
9). Consistent with this anti-recombinase role,
srs2Δ confers a hyper-recombination phenotype and results in the accumulation of toxic recombination intermediates (
10,
11). Biochemical studies later revealed that Srs2 efficiently disrupts Rad51 presynaptic filaments, thus inhibiting an early step of HR (
12,
13).
The mechanism by which Srs2 is recruited to the replication fork is via its interaction with sumoylated PCNA, the processivity clamp for DNA polymerases (
14–16). While the binding between Srs2 and SUMO-PCNA disfavors HR at stalled replication forks, this interaction has been implicated in additional functions such as facilitating replication through trinucleotide repeats (
17–20). It is likely that this interaction has even broader effects, because the Srs2–PCNA interaction, but not the Srs2 helicase activity, is required for the toxicity of Srs2 overexpression in 274 deletion mutant backgrounds (
21). In contrast with its anti-recombination role, Srs2 can also promote synthesis-dependent strand annealing (SDSA), particularly when the protein is phosphorylated by Cdk1 (
22,
23). Interestingly, defects in SDSA caused by non-phosphorylatable Srs2 are alleviated by simultaneously mutating three sumoylation consensus sites, suggesting that sumoylation of Srs2 in this mutant context can be inhibitory to SDSA (
23).
Sumoylation entails the covalent attachment of SUMO (Smt3) to target proteins in a three-step mechanism requiring SUMO E1 activating and E2 conjugating enzymes, and often promoted by an E3 ligase. The SUMO E2, Ubc9, can bind directly to the consensus sumoylation sequence ΨKxE/D
in vitro (
24–26). However, this interaction is weak and needs to be stabilized by accessory interactions. Such interactions are often provided by SUMO ligases, though a SUMO-interacting motif (SIM) in the substrate can also promote its interaction with SUMO or SUMO-charged E2 (
27–31). Three SUMO E3 ligases, Siz1, Siz2 and Mms21, have been identified in budding yeast (
32–34). Although sumoylation has been shown to be critical for DNA replication and repair, the consequences of SUMO attachment to many target proteins are still not known.
As Srs2 sumoylation is strongly induced by DNA damaging agents and negatively affects SDSA in specific situations, it is important to understand how sumoylation of Srs2 impinges on its functions and relates to its interaction with PCNA. Here, we characterize the mechanism of Srs2 sumoylation and highlight the importance of its SIM motif in dictating the balance between unmodified and sumoylated Srs2 in the cell. We show that this motif binds to SUMO-charged Ubc9 to promote the sumoylation of Srs2, but is unable to do so when bound by SUMO-PCNA instead. We also identify a PCNA-specific interaction site that cooperates with the SIM to bind PCNA. These data provide mechanistic insight into Srs2 sumoylation and demonstrate the importance of additional protein-specific interactions in stabilizing the binding between SUMO–SIM interacting partners.