1. The composition of the sterol ester fraction of the shoot, root, scutellum and endosperm of 10-day-old maize seedlings was investigated. 2. The scutellum and endosperm together contain 80% of the sterol ester of the seedling. 3. beta-Sitosteryl linoleate is the major sterol ester of the scutellum and endosperm. 4. beta-Sitosteryl and stigmasteryl palmitate, palmitoleate, oleate and linoleate...

The ERG24 gene, encoding the C-14 sterol reductase, has been reported to be essential to the aerobic growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We report here, however, that strains with null mutations in the ERG24 gene can grow on defined synthetic media in aerobic conditions. These sterol mutants produce ignosterol (ergosta-8,14-dienol) as the principal sterol, with no traces of ergosterol. In addit...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate plant sterol intake estimated with the eighty-four-item Northern Sweden FFQ against repeated 24 h dietary recalls (24-HDR) as the reference method. DESIGN Randomly recruited participants from the Västerbotten Intervention Programme (VIP) responded to an FFQ (FFQ1). Over the subsequent 12 months, ten repeated 24-HDR were carried out. After this, a second FFQ (FFQ2) was co...

Sterol import has been characterized under various conditions in three distinct fungal species, the model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae and two human fungal pathogens Candida glabrata and Candida albicans, employing cholesterol, the sterol of higher eukaryotes, as well as its fungal equivalent, ergosterol. Import was confirmed by the detection of esterified cholesterol within the cells. Com...

The understanding of environmentally induced changes in the biochemical composition of phytoplankton species is of great importance in both physiological studies and ecological food web research. In extensive laboratory experiments we tested the influence of two different temperatures (I QOC and 25°C) and a phosphorus supply gradient on the sterol concentrations of the three freshwater phytopla...

The lamin B receptor (LBR) is an inner nuclear membrane protein with a structural function interacting with chromatin and lamins, and an enzymatic function as a sterol reductase. Heterozygous LBR mutations cause nuclear hyposegmentation in neutrophils (Pelger anomaly), while homozygous mutations cause prenatal death with skeletal defects and abnormal sterol metabolism (Greenberg dysplasia). It ...

Insulin-induced gene proteins (INSIGs) function in control of cellular cholesterol. Mammalian INSIGs exert control by directly interacting with proteins containing sterol-sensing domains (SSDs) when sterol levels are elevated. Mammalian 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl (HMG)-CoA reductase (HMGR) undergoes sterol-dependent, endoplasmic-reticulum (ER)-associated degradation (ERAD) that is mediated by I...

The fetus obtains a significant amount of cholesterol from de novo synthesis. Studies have suggested that maternal cholesterol may also contribute to the cholesterol accrued in the fetus. Thus, the present studies were completed to determine whether diet-induced maternal hypercholesterolemia would affect fetal sterol metabolism. To accomplish this, maternal plasma cholesterol concentrations wer...

All eukaryotes contain sterols, which serve as structural components in cell membranes, and as precursors for important hormones. Plant vegetative tissues are known to contain mixtures of sterols, but very little is known about the sterol composition of phloem. Plants are food for many animals, but plant-feeding arthropods (including phloem-feeding insets) are unique among animals in that they ...

Roles of sterol regulatory element-binding proteins (SREBPs) have been established as lipid synthetic transcription factors especially for cholesterol and fatty acid synthesis. SREBPs have unique characteristics. Firstly, they are membrane-bound proteins and the N-terminal active portions enter nucleus to activate their target genes after proteolytic cleavage, which requires sterol-sensing mole...