Sulfatases are

enzyme Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products ...

s of the

esterase An esterase is a hydrolase enzyme that splits esters into an acid and an alcohol in a chemical reaction with water called hydrolysis. A wide range of different esterases exist that differ in their substrate specificity, their protein structure ...

class that catalyze the hydrolysis of

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 ...

esters. These may be found on a range of substrates, including steroids, carbohydrates and proteins. Sulfate esters may be formed from various alcohols and amines. 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 glycosaminoglycans and glycolipids in the lysosome, and in remodelling sulfated glycosaminoglycans in the extracellular space. Together with

sulfotransferase 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'-phosphosulfate (PAPS). In the case o ...

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

lysosome A lysosome () is a membrane-bound organelle found in many animal cells. They are spherical vesicles that contain hydrolytic enzymes that can break down many kinds of biomolecules. A lysosome has a specific composition, of both its membrane pr ...

, 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 conne ...

. 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 or physical form and structure, its developmental processes, its biochemical and physiological pr ...

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: * cerebroside-sulfatase * steroid sulfatase *

arylsulfatase A Arylsulfatase A (or cerebroside-sulfatase) is an enzyme that breaks down sulfatides, namely cerebroside 3-sulfate into cerebroside and sulfate. In humans, arylsulfatase A is encoded by the ''ARSA'' gene. Pathology A deficiency is associated with m ...

(ASA), a

lysosomal A lysosome () is a membrane-bound organelle found in many animal cells. They are spherical vesicles that contain hydrolytic enzymes that can break down many kinds of biomolecules. A lysosome has a specific composition, of both its membrane pro ...

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 classif ...

; * 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 glucuro ...

s in

and

heparan sulfate Heparan sulfate (HS) is a linear polysaccharide found in all animal tissues. It occurs as 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 The enzyme ''N''-acetylgalactosamine-6-sulfatase (EC 3.1.6.4) catalyzes the chemical reaction of cleaving off the 6-sulfate groups of the ''N''-acetyl-D-galactosamine 6-sulfate units of the macromolecule chondroitin sulfate and, similarly, of the ...

, 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 and glucuronic acid). It is usually found attached to proteins as part of a proteoglycan. A chondroitin chain can have ov ...

and D-galactose 6-sulfate units of keratan sulfate; *

N-sulfoglucosamine sulfohydrolase In enzymology, a N-sulfoglucosamine sulfohydrolase () is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction :N-sulfo-D-glucosamine + H2O \rightleftharpoons D-glucosamine + sulfate Thus, the two substrates of this enzyme are N-sulfo-D-glucosamine a ...

, 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 most ...

and

; * glucosamine-6-sulfatase (G6S), which hydrolyzes the N-acetyl-D-glucosamine 6-sulfate units of heparan sulfate and keratan sulfate; *

, 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. also known as ''E. coli'' (), is a Gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus '' Esc ...

'', '' Klebsiella aerogenes'' and ''

Pseudomonas aeruginosa ''Pseudomonas aeruginosa'' is a common encapsulated, gram-negative, aerobic–facultatively anaerobic, rod-shaped bacterium that can cause disease in plants and animals, including humans. A species of considerable medical importance, ''P. aerug ...

''.

Human proteins containing this domain

ARSA; ARSB; ARSD;

ARSE Arse or ARSE may refer to: * A Commonwealth English slang term for the buttocks * Arse, the name for the Iberian settlement of modern-day Sagunto * Arse (district), a district in the South Tapanuli Regency, North Sumatra province, Sumatra, Indone ...

; ARSF; ARSG; ARSH; ARSI; ARSJ;

ARSK Arsk ( rus, Арск, p=ˈarsk; tt-Cyrl, Арча, ''Arça'') is a town and the administrative center of Arsky District in the Tatarstan, Russia, located on the Kazanka River, from the republic's capital of Kazan. As of the 2010 Census, its ...

; GALNS; GNS; IDS; PIGG;

SGSH N-sulphoglucosamine sulphohydrolase is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the ''SGSH'' gene. Clinical significance A number sign (#) is used with this entry because the phenotype is caused by mutation in the gene encoding N-sulfoglucosami ...

;

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 (gen ...

; SULF1; SULF2;

References

External links

*
Overview at rndsystems.com

{{InterPro content, IPR000917 Transmembrane proteins