Involvement of heme components in sterol metabolism ofSaccharomyces cerevisiae

There is an intimate association between sterol biosynthesis in yeast and aerobicity. Besides the requirement for molecular oxygen for the epoxidation of squalene, cytochrome hemoproteins are involved in demethylation and desaturation steps. Regulatory effects of hemes on sterol formation have been demonstrated using specifically defective mutants of yeast. Heme competency participates in a mechanism whereby wild-type cells are prevented from taking exogenous sterols from the growth media. The multiple interactions of hemes and sterols appear to be associated with the variously defined functions for sterols in the yeast cells. Based on a paper presented at the Symposium on Plant and Fungal Sterols: Biosynthesis, Metabolism and Function, held at the AOCS Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD, April 1990.