The role of cholesterol binding in the control of cholesterol by the Scap-Insig system.

ABSTRACT: Scap and Insig, two proteins embedded in the membrane of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), regulate the synthesis of cholesterol in animal cells by forming a dimer in the presence of high concentrations of cholesterol. Cryo-electron microscopic structures for the Scap-Insig dimer show a sterol-binding site at the dimer interface, but none of the structures include cholesterol itself. Here, a molecular docking approach developed to characterise cholesterol binding to the transmembrane (TM) regions of membrane proteins is used to characterise cholesterol binding to sites on the TM surface of the dimer and to the interfacial binding site. Binding of cholesterol is also observed at sites on the extra-membranous luminal domains of Scap, but the properties of these sites suggest that they will be

SUBMITTER: Lee AG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9233655 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature