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Squalene Epoxidase — Enzymology and Inhibition

  • Conference paper
Biochemistry of Cell Walls and Membranes in Fungi

Abstract

Squalene occupies a key position in the biosynthetic sequence from acetate to ergosterol (Fig. 1), being the first lipophilic intermediate in the pathway. The conversion of this 30-carbon hydrocarbon to the tetracyclic lanosterol structure was originally thought to occur in one step without intermediates. Tchen and Bloch (1957) showed that rat liver extracts require oxygen and reduced pyridine nucleotide to perform cyclisation of squalene. Yeast cells were also shown to require oxygen for ergosterol biosynthesis (Andreasen and Stier 1953) and to accumulate squalene under anaerobic conditions (Klein 1955). Subsequently, the intermediate 2,3-oxidosqualene was discovered (Corey et al. 1966; Van Tamelen et al. 1966) and squalene is now known to be converted by a two-step sequence of epoxidation and subsequent cyclisation involving two separate enzymes. The first of these enzymes, squalene epoxidase (EC 1.14.99.7), was initially described by Yamamoto and Bloch (1970) using rat liver extracts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sandoz Forschungsinstitut, 1235, Vienna, Austria

    N. S. Ryder

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  1. N. S. Ryder
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Sittingbourne Research Centre, Shell Research Ltd., ME9 8AG, Sittingbourne, Kent, UK

    Paul J. Kuhn  & Michael W. Goosey  & 

  2. Microbiology Group Department of Cell & Structural Biology School of Biological Sciences, University of Manchester, M13 9PL, Manchester, UK

    Anthony P. J. Trinci

  3. Dow Agricultural Products, R & D, Letcombe Laboratory, Letcombe Regis, OX12 9JT, Wantage, Oxfordshire, UK

    Michel J. Jung  & Leonard G. Copping  & 

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© 1990 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Ryder, N.S. (1990). Squalene Epoxidase — Enzymology and Inhibition. In: Kuhn, P.J., Trinci, A.P.J., Jung, M.J., Goosey, M.W., Copping, L.G. (eds) Biochemistry of Cell Walls and Membranes in Fungi. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74215-6_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74215-6_13

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-74217-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-74215-6

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