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StAR Search—What We Know about How the Steroidogenic Acute Regulatory Protein Mediates Mitochondrial Cholesterol Import

Department of Pediatrics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143-0978

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Professor Walter L. Miller, Department of Pediatrics, Box 0978, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143-0978. E-mail: wlmlab{at}ucsf.edu.

Cholesterol is the starting point for biosynthesis of steroids, oxysterols and bile acids, and is also an essential component of cellular membranes. The mechanisms directing the intracellular trafficking of this insoluble molecule have received attention through the discovery of the steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR) and related proteins containing StAR-related lipid transfer domains. Much of our understanding of the physiology of StAR derives from studies of congenital lipoid adrenal hyperplasia, which is caused by StAR mutations. Multiple lines of evidence show that StAR moves cholesterol from the outer to inner mitochondrial membrane, but acts exclusively on the outer membrane. The precise mechanism by which StAR’s action on the outer mitochondrial membrane stimulates the flow of cholesterol to the inner membrane remains unclear. When StAR interacts with protonated phospholipid head groups on the outer mitochondrial membrane, it undergoes a conformational change (molten globule transition) that opens and closes StAR’s cholesterol-binding pocket; this conformational change is required for cholesterol binding, which is required for StAR activity. The action of StAR probably requires interaction with the peripheral benzodiazepine receptor.

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