biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...

, sulfatases are a class of

enzyme An enzyme () is a protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different mol ...

s of the

esterase In biochemistry, an esterase is a class of enzyme that splits esters into an acid and an alcohol in a chemical reaction with water called hydrolysis (and as such, it is a type of hydrolase). A wide range of different esterases exist that differ ...

class that

catalyze Catalysis () is the increase in rate of a chemical reaction due to an added substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed by the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recycles quick ...

the

hydrolysis Hydrolysis (; ) is any chemical reaction in which a molecule of water breaks one or more chemical bonds. The term is used broadly for substitution reaction, substitution, elimination reaction, elimination, and solvation reactions in which water ...

sulfate ester In organosulfur chemistry, organosulfates are a class of organic compounds sharing a common functional group with the structure . The core is a sulfate group and the R group is any Organyl group, organic residue. All organosulfates are formally ...

s into an

alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...

and a

bisulfate The sulfate or sulphate ion is a Polyatomic ion, polyatomic anion with the empirical formula . Salts, acid derivatives, and peroxides of sulfate are widely used in industry. Sulfates occur widely in everyday life. Sulfates are salt (chemistry), ...

: :

\ce \quad \xrightarrow

text Text may refer to: Written word * Text (literary theory) In literary theory, a text is any object that can be "read", whether this object is a work of literature, a street sign, an arrangement of buildings on a city block, or styles of clothi ...

\quad \ce These may be found on a range of

substrate Substrate may refer to: Physical layers *Substrate (biology), the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the surface or medium on which an organism grows or is attached ** Substrate (aquatic environment), the earthy material that exi ...

s, including

steroid A steroid is an organic compound with four fused compound, fused rings (designated A, B, C, and D) arranged in a specific molecular configuration. Steroids have two principal biological functions: as important components of cell membranes t ...

carbohydrate A carbohydrate () is a biomolecule composed of carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O) atoms. The typical hydrogen-to-oxygen atomic ratio is 2:1, analogous to that of water, and is represented by the empirical formula (where ''m'' and ''n'' ...

s and

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

s. Sulfate esters may be formed from various alcohols and

amine In chemistry, amines (, ) are organic compounds that contain carbon-nitrogen bonds. Amines are formed when one or more hydrogen atoms in ammonia are replaced by alkyl or aryl groups. The nitrogen atom in an amine possesses a lone pair of elec ...

s. In the latter case the resultant ''N''-sulfates can also be termed sulfamates. Sulfatases play important roles in the cycling of sulfur in the environment, in the degradation of sulfated

glycosaminoglycan Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) or mucopolysaccharides are long, linear polysaccharides consisting of repeating disaccharide units (i.e. two-sugar units). The repeating two-sugar unit consists of a uronic sugar and an amino sugar, except in the case o ...

s and

glycolipid Glycolipids () are lipids with a carbohydrate attached by a glycosidic (covalent) bond. Their role is to maintain the stability of the cell membrane and to facilitate cellular recognition, which is crucial to the immune response and in the c ...

s in the

lysosome A lysosome () is a membrane-bound organelle that is found in all mammalian cells, with the exception of red blood cells (erythrocytes). There are normally hundreds of lysosomes in the cytosol, where they function as the cell’s degradation cent ...

, and in remodelling sulfated glycosaminoglycans in the extracellular space. Together with

sulfotransferase In biochemistry, sulfotransferases (SULTs) are transferase enzymes that catalyze the transfer of a sulfo group () from a donor molecule to an acceptor alcohol () or amine (). The most common sulfo group donor is 3'-phosphoadenosine-5'-phosphos ...

s, sulfatases form the major catalytic machinery for the synthesis and breakage of sulfate esters.

Occurrence and importance

Sulfatases are found in lower and higher organisms. In higher organisms they are found in intracellular and extracellular spaces. Steroid sulfatase is distributed in a wide range of tissues throughout the body, enabling sulfated steroids synthesized in the adrenals and gonads to be desulfated following distribution through the circulation system. Many sulfatases are localized in the

, an acidic digestive organelle found within the cell. Lysosomal sulfatases cleave a range of sulfated carbohydrates including sulfated glycosaminoglycans and

glycolipids Glycolipids () are lipids with a carbohydrate attached by a glycosidic (covalent) bond. Their role is to maintain the stability of the cell membrane and to facilitate cellular recognition, which is crucial to the immune response and in the co ...

. Genetic defects in sulfatase activity can arise through mutations in individual sulfatases and result in certain lysosomal storage disorders with a spectrum of

phenotype In genetics, the phenotype () is the set of observable characteristics or traits of an organism. The term covers the organism's morphology (physical form and structure), its developmental processes, its biochemical and physiological propert ...

s ranging from defects in physical and intellectual development.

Three-dimensional structure

The following sulfatases have been shown to be structurally related based on their

sequence homology Sequence homology is the homology (biology), biological homology between DNA sequence, DNA, RNA sequence, RNA, or Protein primary structure, protein sequences, defined in terms of shared ancestry in the evolutionary history of life. Two segments ...

: * cerebroside-sulfatase *

steroid sulfatase Steroid sulfatase (STS), or steryl-sulfatase (EC 3.1.6.2), formerly known as arylsulfatase C, is a sulfatase enzyme involved in the metabolism of steroids. It is encoded by the ''STS'' gene. Reactions This enzyme catalysis, catalyses the follow ...

* arylsulfatase A (ASA), a

lysosomal A lysosome () is a membrane-bound organelle that is found in all mammalian cells, with the exception of red blood cells (erythrocytes). There are normally hundreds of lysosomes in the cytosol, where they function as the cell’s degradation cent ...

enzyme which hydrolyzes cerebroside sulfate; * arylsulfatase B (ASB) which hydrolyzes the sulfate ester group from N-acetylgalactosamine 4-sulfate residues of

dermatan sulfate Dermatan sulfate is a glycosaminoglycan (formerly called a mucopolysaccharide) found mostly in skin, but also in blood vessels, heart valves, tendons, and lungs. It is also referred to as chondroitin sulfate B, although it is no longer classifi ...

; * arylsulfatase C (ASD) and E (ASE); steryl-sulfatase (STS), a membrane bound enzyme which hydrolyzes 3-beta-hydroxy steroid sulfates; * iduronate 2-sulfatase (IDS), a lysosomal enzyme that hydrolyzes the 2-sulfate groups from

iduronic acid -Iduronic acid (IUPAC abbr.: IdoA) is the major uronic acid component of the glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) dermatan sulfate, and heparin. It is also present in heparan sulfate, although here in a minor amount relative to its carbon-5 epimer glucuronic ...

s in

and

heparan sulfate Heparan sulfate (HS) is a linear polysaccharide found in all animal tissues. It occurs in a proteoglycan (HSPG, i.e. Heparan Sulfate ProteoGlycan) in which two or three HS chains are attached in close proximity to cell surface or extracellular ma ...

; * N-acetylgalactosamine-6-sulfatase , which hydrolyzes the 6-sulfate groups of the N-acetyl-D-galactosamine of

chondroitin sulfate Chondroitin sulfate is a sulfated glycosaminoglycan (GAG) composed of a chain of alternating sugars (N-Acetylgalactosamine, N-acetylgalactosamine and glucuronic acid). It is usually found attached to proteins as part of a proteoglycan. A chondroit ...

and D-galactose 6-sulfate units of

keratan sulfate Keratan sulfate (KS), also called keratosulfate, is any of several sulfated glycosaminoglycans (structural carbohydrates) that have been found especially in the cornea, cartilage, and bone. It is also synthesized in the central nervous system whe ...

; * N-sulfoglucosamine sulfohydrolase , the lysosomal enzyme that hydrolyses N-sulfo-D-glucosamine into

glucosamine Glucosamine (C6H13NO5) is an amino sugar and a prominent precursor in the biochemical synthesis of glycosylated proteins and lipids. Glucosamine is part of the structure of two polysaccharides, chitosan and chitin. Glucosamine is one of the mo ...

and

sulfate The sulfate or sulphate ion is a polyatomic anion with the empirical formula . Salts, acid derivatives, and peroxides of sulfate are widely used in industry. Sulfates occur widely in everyday life. Sulfates are salts of sulfuric acid and many ...

; * glucosamine-6-sulfatase (G6S), which hydrolyzes the N-acetyl-D-glucosamine 6-sulfate units of heparan sulfate and keratan sulfate; * N-sulfoglucosamine sulfohydrolase , the lysosomal enzyme that hydrolyses N-sulfo-D-glucosamine into

and

; *sea urchin embryo arylsulfatase ; *green algae arylsulfatase , which plays a role in the mineralization of sulfates; and * arylsulfatase from ''

Escherichia coli ''Escherichia coli'' ( )Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. is a gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus '' Escherichia'' that is commonly fo ...

'', ''

Klebsiella aerogenes ''Klebsiella aerogenes'', previously known as ''Enterobacter aerogenes'', is a Gram-negative, oxidase-negative, catalase-positive, citrate-positive, indole-negative, rod-shaped bacterium. Capable of motility via peritrichous flagella, it is appr ...

'' and ''

Pseudomonas aeruginosa ''Pseudomonas aeruginosa'' is a common Bacterial capsule, encapsulated, Gram-negative bacteria, Gram-negative, Aerobic organism, aerobic–facultative anaerobe, facultatively anaerobic, Bacillus (shape), rod-shaped bacteria, bacterium that can c ...

''.

Human proteins containing this domain

ARSA; ARSB; ARSD; ARSF; ARSG; ARSH; ARSI; ARSJ;

ARSK Arsk ( rus, Арск, p=ˈarsk; ) is a town and the administrative center of Arsky District in Tatarstan, Russia, located on the Kazanka River, from the republic's capital of Kazan. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 18,114. E ...

; ARSL; GALNS; GNS;

IDS IDS may refer to: Computing * IBM Informix Dynamic Server, a relational database management system * Ideographic Description Sequence, describing a Unihan character as a combination of other characters * Integrated Data Store, one of the first d ...

; PIGG; SGSH;

STS STS, or sts, may refer to: Medicine * Secondary traumatic stress, a condition which leads to a diminished ability to empathize * Sequence-tagged site, a gene-reference in genomics * Soft-tissue sarcoma * Staurosporine, an antibiotic * STS (gene ...

; SULF1; SULF2;

References

External links

*
Overview at rndsystems.com

{{InterPro content, IPR000917 Transmembrane proteins