Ergosterol biosynthetic enzyme

A schematic of fungal ergosterol biosynthesis starting from squalene is shown in Figure 40.1. The biosynthetic pathway has been simplified to emphasize steps important to the action of currently employed antifungal drugs. The last nonsteroidal precursor to both ergosterol and cholesterol is the hydrocarbon squalene. Squalene is converted to squalene epoxide by the enzyme squalene epoxidase. Squalene epoxide is then cyclized to lanosterol, the first steroid in the biosynthetic pathway. The... 

In D. tertiolecta, we were able to idenhfy the majority of enzymes responsible for the biosynthesis of stigmasterol and p-sitosterol. We have also identified the enzymes synthesizing episterol, a precursor of campesterol, which is an important phytosterol known to have potential antiosteoarthritic properties (Gabay et al., 2010). Episterol is also a precursor for ergosterol however, the biosynthetic pathway branches after (S)-squalene-2,3-epoxide formation and follows a different route. Due to the fact that we did not identify most of the... 

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