Sentrin Specific Protease 7 (SENP7)

The reversible posttranslational modification of proteins by the addition of small ubiquitin-like SUMO proteins is required for many cellular processes. SUMO-specific proteases, such as SENP7, process SUMO precursors to generate a C-terminal diglycine motif required for the conjugation reaction.

The isolated catalytic domains of SENP6 and SENP7 could not efficiently process SUMO1, SUMO2, and SUMO3 precursors. In contrast, SENP6 and SENP7 exhibited efficient SUMO deconjugation activity, with a preference for substrates containing SUMO2 or SUMO3 over substrates containing SUMO1. SENP6 and SENP7 showed higher rates for deconjugating di- or poly-SUMO2 and -SUMO3 than for deconjugating SUMO2- or SUMO3-conjugated RANGAP1.