Yeast oxysterol-binding proteins and lipid regulation

胆固醇是一种必要的邪恶。胆固醇过多会导致疾病，但一些胆固醇仍然是细胞正常生长所必需的。胆固醇和相关的脂类是包裹细胞的膜结构所必需的，而胆固醇影响嵌入膜内的蛋白质的功能。氧固醇结合蛋白(OSBPs)与胆固醇在细胞内的运输和相关的细胞反应有关。我们发现，酵母OSBPs有助于确定母细胞上新的子细胞将在哪里生长和分裂。我们工作的目标是确定酵母OSBPs将胆固醇和脂肪调节信号与细胞生长和分裂控制相结合的机制。由于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OSBPs对我们的细胞重要。

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.