BACKGROUND Cholesterol metabolic studies are simplified in colectomized patients because of rapid intestinal passage and reduced bacterial action. OBJECTIVE Our objective was to study the effect on cholesterol and plant sterol metabolism of feeding a margarine containing stanol ester to 11 colectomized patients. DESIGN A margarine containing 2 g stanol was consumed for 7-18 d. Serum, biliar...

Certain allelochemicals of the marine dinoflagellate Alexandrium tamarense cause lysis of a broad spectrum of target protist cells but the lytic mechanism is poorly defined. We first hypothesized that membrane sterols serve as molecular targets of these lytic compounds, and that differences in sterol composition among donor and target cells may cause insensitivity of Alexandrium and sensitivity...

The mechanism(s) of intracellular sterol trafficking among subcellular organelle membranes is not well understood. Relative contributions of vesicular, sterol carrier protein, and membrane sterol domain pathways are not resolved. A sterol kinetic assay was used to resolve multiple sterol domains in microsome (MICRO), mitochondria (MITO), and plasma (PM) membrane: exchangeable, 20-40% of total; ...

Membrane fractions enriched in endoplasmic reticulum (ER), tonoplast and Golgi membranes (TG) and plasma membranes (PM) were prepared from barley (Hordeum vulgare L. cv CM 72) roots and the lipid compositions of the three fractions were analyzed and compared. Plants were grown in an aerated nutrient solution with or without 100 millimolar NaCl. Each membrane fraction had a characteristic lipid ...

Bioethanol is an environment friendly and renewable source of energy produced by the fermentation of agricultural raw material by a variety of microorganisms including yeast. Obtaining yeast strains that are tolerant to stresses like high levels of ethanol and high temperature is highly desirable as it reduces cost and increases yield during bioethanol production. Here, we report that heterolog...