The Drosophila gene Start1: a putative cholesterol transporter and key regulator of ecdysteroid synthesis.

ABSTRACT: Human metastatic lymph node 64 (MLN64) is a transmembrane protein that shares homology with the cholesterol-binding vertebrate steroid acute regulatory protein (StAR)-related lipid transfer domain (START) and is involved in cholesterol traffic and steroid synthesis. We identified a Drosophila melanogaster gene whose putative protein product shows extensive homology with MLN64 and that we name Start1 (FlyBase CG3522). The putative Start1 protein, derived from Start1 cDNA sequences, contains an additional 122 aa of unknown function within the StAR-related lipid transfer domain. Similar inserts seem to exist in the Start1 homologues of Drosophila pseudoobscura and Anopheles gambiae, but not in the homologous protein of the urochordate Ciona intestinalis. Immunostaining using an insert-specifi

SUBMITTER: Roth GE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC341787 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature