Molecular cloning of an isoform of phenol sulfotransferase from human brain hippocampus.

Sulfate conjugation by sulfotransferases is important for the metabolism of drugs, xenobiotics, monoamines, and neuropeptides (1-3). In this study, molecular cloning resulted in the isolation of a 1.2-kb human brain hippocampal cDNA encoding a member of the phenol sulfotransferase (PST) family of enzymes. The hippocampal phenol sulfotransferase (H-PST) cDNA possesses differences in its deduced primary sequence compared to human liver monoamine (M form) (4,5) and phenol (P form) (6,7) isoforms of PST. The hippocampal PST contrasts with previous studies that identified two human brain PST cDNAs whose coding sequences are identical to the human liver M and P forms of PST. Importantly, this study provides evidence for a human hippocampal form of PST.