Arylsulfatase H (ARSH)

Sulfatases, such as ARSH, hydrolyze sulfate esters from sulfated steroids, carbohydrates, proteoglycans, and glycolipids. They are involved in hormone biosynthesis, modulation of cell signaling, and degradation of macromolecules (Sardiello et al., 2005).By searching databases for novel sulfatase genes, Sardiello et al. (2005) identified ARSH. They determined that all human sulfatases, including ARSH, have 9 regions of strong evolutionary conservation, most of which contain residues involved in the sulfatase hydrolysis reaction.

Sardiello et al. (2005) stated that the ARSH gene maps to chromosome Xp22.3, within a sulfatase gene cluster that includes ARSD, ARSE, and ARSF. They noted that the dog genome has a similar gene cluster, whereas the mouse genome has only 1 sulfatase gene on chromosome X.