Anh-Tri Do, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral research fellow

Education
Uppsala University, Sweden, 2006

Lab
Charles P. Emerson, Jr.

Research Interests
Proteoglycan (PG) coreceptors carry heparan sulfate (HS) chains that mediate interactions with growth factors, morphogens, and receptors. Thus, PGs modulate fundamental processes such as cell survival, division, adhesion, migration, and differentiation. The interactions between the HS chains and various ligands are influenced by the variations in the sulfation pattern along the HS. The extracellular  sulfatases (Sulfs) are an evolutionally conserved family of heparan sulfate (HS)-specific 6-O-endosulfatases. These enzymes remodel the 6-O-sulfation of cell surface HS chains and thus influence the function of many factors, including Wnt, fibroblast growth factor, hepatocyte growth factor and bone morphogenetic protein. Given their possible developmental roles, we are using variety of biochemical, cell biological and in vivo-based approaches to understand the enzymatic properties and signaling roles of the Sulfs in embryonic development, stem cell specification and tumor progression.

Publications

Ai, X., Do, AT., Lozynska, O., Kusche-Gullberg, M., Lindahl, U. and C.P.
Emerson, Jr. (2003). QSulf1 remodels the 6-O sulfation states of cell surface
heparan sulfate proteoglycans to promote Wnt signaling. J Cell Biol. 162(2):
341-51.

Jemth, P., Smeds, E., Do, AT., Habuchi, H., Kimata, K., Lindahl, U. and
Kusche-Gullberg, M., (2003). Oligosaccharide library-based assessment of
heparan sulfates 6-O-sulfotransferase substrate specificity. J Biol Chem.
278(27): 24371-6.

Smeds, E., Habuchi, H., Do, A.T., Hjertson, E., Grundberg, H., Kimata, K.,
Lindahl, U., and Kusche-Gullberg, M. (2003). Substrate specificities of
mouse heparan sulphate glucosaminyl 6-O-sulphotransferases. Biochem J.
372(Pt 2): 371-80.

Do, AT.*, Smeds, E.*, Spillmann, D. And Kusche-Gullberg, M., (2006)
Overexpression of heparan sulfate 6-O-sulfotransferase in human embryonic
kidney 293 cells results in increased N-acetyl glucosaminyl 6-O-sulfation. J
Biol Chem. 281(9):5348-56.

Ai, X., Do, A-T., Kusche-Gullberg, M., Lindahl, U. and C.P., Emerson Jr.,
(2006) Substrate specificity and domain functions of extracellular heparan
sulfate 6-O endosulfatases, QSulf1 and QSulf2. J Biol Chem. 281(8):4969-76.

Ai, X., Kitazawa, T., Do, AT., Kusche-Gullberg, M., Labosky, P.A. and C.P.,
Emerson Jr., (2007). Sulf1 and Sulf2 function cooperatively to regulate
GDNF signaling for esophageal innervation. Development. 134(18):3327-38.

Langsdorf, A., Do, AT., Kusche-Gullberg, M., C.P., Emerson Jr., and Ai, X.,
(2007). Sulfs are required for normal muscle regeneration by regulating
muscle stem cell differentiation. Developmental Biology, 311(2):464-477.

Feta, A.*, Do, AT.*, Rentzsch, F., Technau, U. and Kusche-Gullberg M.,
(2009). Molecular analysis of heparan sulphate biosynthetic enzyme
machinery and characterization of heparan sulphate structure in
Nematostella vectensis, (Biochemical Journal, January 26th, Epub ahead of
print).

Contact Details:
email: do@bbri.org, tel. 617-658-7868