Female rat liver cytosol contained at least three sulfotransferases (STs) that were separable on a DEAE-Sephadex A-50 column and transformed the carcinogen 5-hydroxymethylchrysene (5-HCR) to the potent mutagen 5-HCR sulfate. The STs also catalyzed sulfation of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHA), a typical substrate for hydroxysteroid STs. Of these three isozymes, the one (STa) with the highest 5-HCR-sulfating activity was isolated and purified (100-fold) as a homogeneous protein, in 15% yield, by successive column chromatography on agarose modified with 3'-phosphoadenosine 5'-phosphate as an affinity ligand and on Sephadex G-100. Purified STa was classified as a hydroxysteroid ST because the 5-HCR- and DHA-sulfating activities were inseparable from each other throughout the purification steps. Sulfation of 5-HCR by purified STa was competitively inhibited by DHA. STa also catalyzed sulfation of other potent carcinogens, 7-hydroxymethylbenz[a]anthracene, 7-hydroxymethyl-12-methylbenz[a]anthracene, and 7,12-dihydroxymethylbenz[a], anthrocene, to produce sulfate esters with high reactivity and mutagenicity. However, STa had no activity with 4-nitrophenol, a typical substrate for phenol STs, or with N-hydroxy-2-acetylaminofluorene. STa had a pl value of 6.4 and existed on a gel filtration column as a homooligomer of a subunit protein with Mr 30,500, determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of STa was as follows: Pro-Asp-Tyr-Thr-Trp-Phe-Glu-Gly-Ile-Pro-Phe-Pro-Ala-Phe-Gly-Ile- Pro-Lys-Glu-Thr-. Immunoblot analysis of female and male rat liver cytosol, carried out by using rabbit antiserum raised against the purified enzyme STa and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, indicated that the female liver contained a much higher level of the enzyme than did the male liver. The marked sex difference in STa level was in good accordance with the previous demonstration that cytosol from the liver of female rats catalyzed sulfation of 5-HCR to a greater extent than did cytosol from the liver of male rats.