Dermatan Sulfate Epimerase Like Protein (DSEL)

DSEL has an N-terminal signal peptide and 2 transmembrane segments. Northern blot analysis detected high expression of a transcript of about 9.5 kb in brain, kidney, heart, with lower expression in placenta, lung, liver, skeletal muscle, stomach, spinal cord, uterus, thyroid, prostate, mammary gland, lymph, bladder, and adrenal gland. No expression was detected in thymus, colon, peripheral blood leukocytes, spleen, and bone marrow. DSEL was detected in all 7 specific brain regions examined.The deduced protein contains a chondroitin sulfate sulfotransferase domain with conserved 5-prime and 3-prime binding sites for 3-prime phosphoadenosine 5-prime phosphosulfate (PAPS), suggesting that DSEL may be an enzyme with dual epimerase and O-sulfotransferase activities in dermatan sulfate biosynthesis.