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Nature Chemical Biology 5, 12–13 (1 January 2009) | doi:10.1038/nchembio0109-12

Research highlights

Stereochemistry-independent sterols Oxygenated derivatives of cholesterol, or oxysterols, regulate cholesterol homeostasis by interacting directly with Insig proteins and promoting both endoplasmic reticulum (ER) retention of transcription factors that control expression of cholesterol synthesis genes and degradation of the cholesterol biosynthetic enzyme HMG CoA reductase (HMGR). Gale et al. used the side chain oxysterol 25-hydroxycholesterol (HC) and its enantiomer, ent-25-HC, to demonstrate that sterol regulatory element (SRE)-dependent transcription and HMGR degradation occur independently of HC stereochemistry.