Abstract
Cytosolic sulfotransferase (SULT) SULT2B1b had previously been characterized as a cholesterol sulfotransferase. Like human SULT2B1, mouse SULT2B1b contains a unique, 31 amino acid C-terminal sequence with a proline/serine-rich region, which is not found in members of other SULT families. To gain insight into the functional relevance of this proline/serine-rich region, we constructed a truncated mouse SULT2B1b lacking the 31 C-terminal amino acids, and compared it with the wild-type enzyme. Enzymatic characterization indicated that the catalytic activity was not significantly affected by the absence of those C-terminal residues. Glutathione S-transferase pulldown assays showed that several proteins interacted with mouse SULT2B1b specifically through this C-terminal proline/serine-rich region. Peptide mass fingerprinting revealed that of the five SULT2B1b-binding proteins analyzed, three were cytoskeletal proteins and two were cytoskeleton-binding molecular chaperones. Furthermore, wild-type mouse SULT2B1b, but not the truncated enzyme, was associated with the cytoskeleton in experiments with a cytoskeleton-stabilizing buffer. Collectively, these results suggested that the unique, extended proline/serine-rich C-terminus of mouse SULT2B1b is important for its interaction with cytoskeletal proteins. Such an interaction may allow the enzyme to move along microfilaments such as actin filaments, and catalyze the sulfation of hydroxysteroids, such as cholesterol and pregnenolone, at specific intracellular locations.