Cytosolic sulfonation of small molecules

Two groups of sulfotransferease (SULT) enzymes catalyze the transfer of a sulfate group from 3-phosphoadenosine 5-phosphosulfate (PAPS) to a hydroxyl group on an acceptor molecule, yielding a sulfonated acceptor and 3-phosphoadenosine 5-phosphate (PAP). One is localized to the Golgi apparatus and mediates the sulfonation of proteoglycans. The second, annotated here, is cytosolic and mediates the sulfonation of a diverse array of small molecules, increasing their solubilities in water and modifying their physiological functions. There are probably thirteen or more human cytosolic SULT enzymes; eleven of these have been purified and characterized enzymatically, and are annotated here. These enzymes appear to be active as dimers. Their substrate specificities are typically broad, and not related in an obvious way to their structures; indeed, apparently orthologous human and rodent SULT enzymes can have different substrate specificities, and none has been exhaustively characterized. The substrates listed in the table and annotated here are a sample of the known ones, chosen to indicate the range of activity of these enzymes and to capture some of their known physiologically important targets. Absence of a small molecule - enzyme pair from the table, however, may only mean that it has not yet been studied.

Summary from Reactome (R-HSA-156584), read 2026-09-23.