Analysis of histone deacetylases sumoylation by immunoprecipitation techniques

Abstract

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are controlling dynamic protein acetylation by removing acetyl moieties from lysine. Histone deacetylases themselves are regulated on the posttranslational level, including modifications with small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) proteins. Detecting SUMO modifications of deacetylases by immunoblotting is technically challenging due to the typically low ratio of the modified compared to the unmodified species. Here, we describe a set of methods for the detection of endogenous sumoylated HDACs by immunoprecipitation and immunoblotting techniques.