JBC, Vol. 251, Issue 21, 6529-6536, Nov, 1976
Purification and characterization of N-hydroxy-2-acetylaminofluorene sulfotransferase from rat liver
S. G. Wu and K. D. Straub
N-Hydroxy-2-acetylaminofluorene (N-OH-2-AAF) sulfotransferase is an enzyme
that catalyzes the sulfate transfer from the active sulfate,
3'-phosphoadenosine 5'-phosphosulfate (PAPS), to N-OH-2-AAF to form a
highly reactive product acetylaminofluorene N-sulfate. It has been purified
about 2000-fold with a yield of over 12% from adult Sprague-Dawley male rat
livers by an eight-step procedure. The final preparation was homogeneous on
analytrical disc gel electrophoresis. The purified enzyme had activity
toward p-nitrophenol with an approximately 1600-fold increase in specific
activity over the crude homogenate, but it had almost no detectable
activity toward steroids such as estrone, beta-estradiol, testosterone,
dehydroisoandrosterone, and corticosterone. There was also very little
sulfation activity toward serotonin and L-tyrosine methyl ester. The
optimal pH for the enzyme activity is approximately 6.3 when measured in
sodium phosphate buffer. Mg2+ at 6 to 9 mM could increase the enzyme
activity up to 30%. Mn2+ activated the enzyme only slightly at very low
concentrations. Zn2+, Co2+, Cu2+, and Ni2+ were all strongly inhibitory,
but Ca2+ had very little effect. Thiol compounds were found to have a
stabilizing effect and thiol-blocking reagents were potent inhibitors for
this enzyme. The pure enzyme was very unstable especially in diluet
solutions. The isoelectric point (pl) of the enzyme is 5.66 +/- 0.07. The
molecular weight of the native enzyme was 68,000 +/- 500 as estimated by
Sephadex G-100 and G-200 gel filtrations. A single component with molecular
weight of 38,250 +/- 1,350 was observed on sodium dodecyl sulfate gel
electrophoresis in the absence and presence of 2-mercaptoethanol.
Comparison of the enzyme activity in mail and female rat livers at each
stage of purification revealed that there was only a trace amount of
N-OH-2-AAF sulfotransferase present in the female rat liver.