Expression of Heparan Sulfate Biosynthetic Enzymes in Bacteria (2011)

Undergraduate: Juliana Jing

Faculty Advisor: Jian Liu
Department: Pharmacy

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Heparin is a widely used anticoagulant drug for treating thrombotic disorders and other forms of cardiovascular diseases. It is animal sourced, which makes them prone to contamination, so therefore there is an incentive to create synthetic heparin. Biosynthetic heparin is a form of a highly sulfated polysaccharide called heparan sulfate and its biosynthesis involves a series of specialized sulfotransferases and an epimerase. These enzymes are crucial in optimizing the production of bioengineered heparin in a highly cost-effective way. This study expressed and purified several heparin enzymes in bacteria as well as analyzed the purity and activity. The enzymes created had viable results and were overall successful. Multiple repetitions of enzyme expression usually led to better results.