The Sulfation issue of Essays in Biochemistry is out. This has its origins in the excellent September 2023 SUPA 2023 meeting, supported by the Biochemical Society and organised by Jon Mueller and colleagues. The entire volume is worth reading, as it covers a lot of new ground and ideas, starting with the sulfate anion itself in physiology through to sulfated cellular products.
Our own contribution was a review on the interactions of heparan sulfate with proteins and one on polysaccharide sulfotransferases. It has been 16 years since we wrote a review on the first topic and since there have been substantial advances. We took the opportunity to build up from the basics to some new(ish) ideas on the selectivity of these interactions and how they may control the diffusion of heparan sulfate-binding proteins in the extracellular space. Polysaccharide sulfotransferases are pretty much terra incognita. They occur across the Tree of Life, yet the majority of our data are on the mammalian Golgi enzymes; putative enzymes are the overwhelming majority in this field!
In the summer I started my engagement with Dulce Papy-Garcia’s department in UPEC; my relationship to the department goes back to the mid 1990s and I have always found it to be a most stimulating environment. It transpired that her Group had undertaken a massive analysis of the enzymes involved in heparan sulfate biosynthesis and from that had elaborated an exciting new hypothesis regarding its regulation, which amongst other things explained the counter intuitive phenotypes of a number of genetic disorders. I emailed Jon Mueller to ask if there was still space in the sulfation issue of Essays in Biochemistry – there was, so with Dulce we set about knocking their analysis into the shape of a review. The result was the third review which provides a new model to explain the phenotypes that result from genetic variation in the genes encoding the enzymes and transporters involved in heparan sulfate proteoglycan biosynthesis.
Reviews at Essays in Biochemistry are subjected to peer review, and for all three of these reviews the comments were both incisive and useful, allowing us to improve the articles. So a thank you to the reviewers for taking the time to read our submissions and provide us with the benefit of your ideas and insights. Another great plus is that Portland Press’ electronic proofing system is a pleasure.
Reviews do take a substantial effort, so now it is time to return to those drafts of primary research papers and finish them!
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