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Why do worms need cholesterol?

Nature Cell Biology volume 5, pages 684–688 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

Cholesterol is a structural component of animal membranes that influences fluidity, permeability and formation of lipid microdomains. It is also a precursor to signalling molecules, including mammalian steroid hormones and insect ecdysones. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans requires too little cholesterol for it to have a major role in membrane structure. Instead, its most probable signalling functions are to control molting and induce a specialized non-feeding larval stage, although no cholesterol-derived signalling molecule has yet been identified for these or any other functions.

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Figure 1: Cholesterol has numerous functions in eukaryotic cells.
Figure 2: Nematodes can modify, but not synthesize, sterols.

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Acknowledgements

We thank members of the T.V.K. lab and C. Thiele (Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany) for helpful discussions, and W. Wood (University of Colorado, Boulder, CO) for comments on the manuscript. S.W. thanks the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, D-01307, Germany

    Teymuras V. Kurzchalia

  2. the University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA

    Samuel Ward

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Correspondence to Teymuras V. Kurzchalia.

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Kurzchalia, T., Ward, S. Why do worms need cholesterol?. Nat Cell Biol 5, 684–688 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb0803-684

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