A squalene-hopene cyclase in Schizosaccharomyces japonicus represents a eukaryotic adaptation to sterol-limited anaerobic environments.

ABSTRACT: Biosynthesis of sterols, which are key constituents of canonical eukaryotic membranes, requires molecular oxygen. Anaerobic protists and deep-branching anaerobic fungi are the only eukaryotes in which a mechanism for sterol-independent growth has been elucidated. In these organisms, tetrahymanol, formed through oxygen-independent cyclization of squalene by a squalene-tetrahymanol cyclase, acts as a sterol surrogate. This study confirms an early report [C. J. E. A. Bulder, Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek, 37, 353-358 (1971)] that Schizosaccharomyces japonicus is exceptional among yeasts in growing anaerobically on synthetic media lacking sterols and unsaturated fatty acids. Mass spectrometry of lipid fractions of anaerobically grown Sch. japonicus showed the presence of hopanoi

SUBMITTER: Bouwknegt J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8364164 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature