Yeast Ulp1, an Smt3-specific protease, associates with nucleoporins.

Yeast Smt3 is a ubiquitin-like protein similar to the mammalian SUMO-1. Cdc3, a septin component, is known to be modified by Smt3. The level of this modification was affected by Smt3-specific protease mutation ulp1-ts or overexpression of ULP1. By two-hybrid screening, we isolated 5 UIP (Ulp1 interacting protein) genes. UIP1 was identical to NUP42 encoding a component of the nuclear pore complex (NPC). Gle1, another NPC-associating component, also interacted with Ulp1 in the two-hybrid system and co-immunoprecipitation experiment. Thus Ulp1 associates with nucleoporins and may interact with septin rings in the telophase.