Yeast oxysterol-binding proteins and lipid regulation

胆固醇是一种必要的邪恶。过多的胆固醇会导致疾病，但正常细胞生长仍然需要一些胆固醇。胆固醇和相关脂质是包裹细胞的细胞膜结构所必需的，胆固醇会影响细胞膜内蛋白质的功能。氧甾醇结合蛋白（osbp）参与胆固醇在细胞内的转运和相关的细胞反应。我们发现酵母osbp有助于决定一个新的子细胞在母细胞上生长和分裂的位置。我们的工作目标是确定酵母osbp将胆固醇和脂质调节信号与细胞生长和分裂的控制相结合的机制。因为酵母和人类拥有细胞生长所需的相似因素，我们可以利用酵母分子遗传学来快速了解为什么胆固醇和osbp对我们的细胞很重要。

Cholesterol is a necessary evil. Too much cholesterol leads to disease, but some cholesterol is nonetheless needed for normal cell growth. Cholesterol and related lipids are required for the structure of the membrane that envelopes cells, and cholesterol affects the function of proteins embedded within this membrane. Oxysterol-binding proteins (OSBPs) are implicated in the transport of cholesterol within cells and in associated cellular responses. We discovered that yeast OSBPs help determine where on the mother cell a new daughter cell will grow and divide. The goal of our work is to define the mechanism by which yeast OSBPs integrate cholesterol and lipid regulatory signals with the control of cell growth and division. Because yeast and humans possess similar factors required for cell growth, we can exploit yeast molecular genetics to make quick progress towards understanding why cholesterol and OSBPs are important to our cells.