Evolutionary origin of the mitochondrial cholesterol transport machinery reveals a universal mechanism of steroid hormone biosynthesis in animals.

ABSTRACT: Steroidogenesis begins with the transport of cholesterol from intracellular stores into mitochondria via a series of protein-protein interactions involving cytosolic and mitochondrial proteins located at both the outer and inner mitochondrial membranes. In adrenal glands and gonads, this process is accelerated by hormones, leading to the production of high levels of steroids that control tissue development and function. A hormone-induced multiprotein complex, the transduceosome, was recently identified, and is composed of cytosolic and outer mitochondrial membrane proteins that control the rate of cholesterol entry into the outer mitochondrial membrane. More recent studies unveiled the steroidogenic metabolon, a bioactive, multimeric protein complex that spans the outer-inner mitochondrial

SUBMITTER: Fan J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3790746 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature