We recently identified 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase, the rate-limiting enzyme of the mevalonate pathway, as a potential therapeutic target of the head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) and cervical carcinomas (CC). The products of this complex biochemical pathway, including de novo cholesterol, are vital for a variety of key cellular functions affecting memb...

Trypanosoma brucei is a digenetic protozoan parasite presenting a public health hazard in certain areas of Africa; it is transmitted between mammals (bloodstream form (BSF)) by tsetse flies (procyclic form (PCF)). We have an ongoing interest in small GTP proteins in T. brucei, and these are commonly isoprenylated. Many isoprenylated proteins belong to the rab family and include ras; the isopren...

Simvastatin (SIM) (Figure 1) reduces levels of circulating atherogenic lipoproteins by competitive inhibition of the microsomal enzyme 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-co-enzyme A(HMG-CoA) reductase, which catalyzes the conversion of HMG-CoA to mevalonate, a critical intermediary in the biosynthesis pathway of cholesterol1. Also SIM inhibits oxidation of native and modified low-density and high-densi...

Feeding experiments with specifically 13C-labeled glucose disclosed that the diterpenoid part of the striatals/striatins is formed via the mevalonate pathway, whereas the pentose moiety originates either via glucuronic acid (70%) or the pentose phosphate cycle (30%). Application of radioactively labeled herical to cultures of Hericium ramosum demonstrates the pivotal role of this cyathane-xylos...

Many bacteria employ the nonmevalonate pathway for synthesis of isopentenyl diphosphate, the monomer unit for isoprenoid biosynthesis. However, gram-positive cocci exclusively use the mevalonate pathway, which is essential for their growth (E. I. Wilding et al., J. Bacteriol. 182:4319-4327, 2000). Enzymes of the mevalonate pathway are thus potential targets for drug intervention. Uniquely, the ...

In most insect species, juvenile hormones regulate critical physiological processes such as metamorphosis and reproduction. In insects, these sesquiterpenoids are synthesized by retrocerebral endocrine organs, the corpora allata, via the classical mevalonate (MVA) pathway. One of these compounds, juvenile hormone III (JH III), has also been identified in the sedge Cyperus iria. In higher plants...

abstract: fifteen non-aflatoxigenic strains of aspergillus flavus, represent a wide range of geographic regions of iran (six provinces include fars, ardebil, guilan, golestan, kerman and semnan) and vegetative compatibility groups (vcgs), were collected from corn (zea mays l.), peanut (arachis hypogaea l.) and pistachio (pistachia vera l.) soils and kernels, were screened for the presence of af...

Certain bile salts inhibit biosynthesis of mevalonate from acetate-2-C(14) in normal rat liver homogenates. The physiological control of cholesterol biosynthesis is discussed.

Four substances, &hydroxy[3-i4C]butyrate, [3-W]acetoacetate, [2-“C]acetate and [2-W]mevalonate, were compared by subcutaneous injection in 9to 12-day-old rats as precursors of lipids in the central nervous system and in other organs. Subcutaneously injected mevalonate is a poor substrate for sterol synthesis in the central nervous system as compared to the utilization by the liver and kidneys, ...