SUMOylated NKAP is essential for chromosome alignment by anchoring CENP-E to kinetochores

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Chromosome alignment is required for accurate chromosome segregation. Chromosome misalignment can result in genomic instability and tumorigenesis. Here, we show that NF-κB activating protein (NKAP) is critical for chromosome alignment through anchoring CENP-E to kinetochores. NKAP knockdown causes chromosome misalignment and prometaphase arrest in human cells. NKAP dynamically localizes to kinetochores, and is required for CENP-E kinetochore localization. NKAP is SUMOylated predominantly in mitosis and the SUMOylation is needed for NKAP to bind CENP-E. A SUMOylation-deficient mutant of NKAP cannot support the localization of CENP-E on kinetochores or proper chromosome alignment. Moreover, Bub3 recruits NKAP to stabilize the binding of CENP-E to BubR1 at kinetochores. Importantly, loss of NKAP expression causes aneuploidy in cultured cells, and is observed in human soft tissue sarcomas. These findings indicate that NKAP is a novel and key regulator of mitosis, and its dysregulation might contribute to tumorigenesis by causing chromosomal instability.