Brief Communication abstract


Nature Chemical Biology 2, 195 - 196 (2006)
Published online: 12 March 2006 | doi:10.1038/nchembio777

Heparan sulfate C5-epimerase is essential for heparin biosynthesis in mast cells

Thorsten B Feyerabend1,3, Jin-Ping Li2,3, Ulf Lindahl2 & Hans-Reimer Rodewald1

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Biosynthesis of heparin, a mast cell–derived glycosaminoglycan with widespread importance in medicine, has not been fully elucidated. In biosynthesis of heparan sulfate (HS), a structurally related polysaccharide, HS glucuronyl C5-epimerase (Hsepi) converts D-glucuronic acid (GlcA) to L-iduronic acid (IdoA) residues. We have generated Hsepi-null mouse mutant mast cells, and we show that the same enzyme catalyzes the generation of IdoA in heparin and that 'heparin' lacking IdoA shows a distorted O-sulfation pattern.

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  1. Department of Immunology, University of Ulm, D-89070 Ulm, Germany.
  2. Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Uppsala, The Biomedical Center, Box 582, SE-751 23 Uppsala, Sweden.
  3. These authors contributed equally to this work.

Correspondence to: Jin-Ping Li2,3 e-mail: jin-ping.li@imbim.uu.se

Correspondence to: Hans-Reimer Rodewald1 e-mail: hans-reimer.rodewald@uni-ulm.de




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