SUMO protease, Ulp, is a highly active cysteine protease originating from a recombinant gene fragment of yeast Ulp1 (Ubl-specific protease 1). SUMO protease recognizes and cleaves the peptide bond immediately following the Gly-Gly residues at the carboxyl terminus (C-terminal) of the ubiquitin-like (UBL) protein SUMO with high specificity.
The optimal cleavage temperature is 30 ºC and the optimal pH is 8.0. The protease maintains relatively high enzymatic activity over a broad range of pH 6.0-10.0, temperature (2~30ºC), and ionic strength conditions (0-400 mM NaCl). Adding DTT (0.5~2 mM)to the enzyme reaction buffer may improve cleavage efficiency, such as o/n digestion at 4ºC. After cleavage, SUMO protease can be removed from the sample by affinity chromatography utilizing the histidine-tag on its N-terminus.