HUMAN ESTROGEN SULFOTRANSFERASE GENE (STE) - CLONING, STRUCTURE, AND CHROMOSOMAL LOCALIZATION

Sulfation is an important pathway in the metabolism of estrogens. We r ecently cloned a human liver estrogen sulfotransferase (EST) cDNA. We have now determined the structure and chromosomal localization of the EST gene, STE, as a step toward molecular genetic studies of the regul ation of EST in humans. STE spans approximately 20 kb and consists of 8 exons, ranging in length from 95 to 181 bp. The locations of most ex on-intron splice junctions within STE are identical to those found in a human phenol ST (PST) gene, STM, and in a rat PST gene, In addition, the locations of five STE introns are also conserved in the human deh ydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) ST gene, STD. The 5'-flanking region of STE contains one CCAAT and two TATA sequences. The location of one of the TATA box elements is in excellent agreement with the site of transcri ption initiation as determined by 5'-rapid amplification of cDNA ends. STE was mapped to human chromosome 4q13.1 by fluorescence in situ hyb ridization, Cloning and structural characterization of STE will now ma ke it possible to study potential molecular genetic mechanisms involve d in the regulation of EST in human tissues. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.