Letter To The Editor

Cholesterol And Sitosterol, Two Members of the Steroid Family which Structures Differ by A Single Ethyl Group, but which Maintain the Right Balance between Plant and Animal Kingdoms

Jean-Louis Kraus¹

¹Phone: + (33) 04-13-94-24-25; e-mail: jean-louis.kraus@univ-amu.fr

Institut de Biologie du Développement de Marseille (IBDM), UMR-7288 CNRS-Aix Marseille University Campus de Luminy, Case 907,13288 Marseille Cedex, France

Received 07.10.2019; revised 05.11.2019; accepted 08.11.2019

DOI: 10.1134/S106816202005012X

Abstract –– Cholesterol and Sitosterol are two members of the steroid family, which molecular structures differ only by the presence of an ethyl substituent at the position 24 of the steroid skeleton. Cholesterol is mainly synthesized in large quantities in the liver of animals and only in small quantities by plants. In contrast Sitosterol is only synthesized by plants. This tiny difference of an ethyl group between the two steroids structures have induced profound effects on the climatic changes during evolution, but plant sterols still have important effects on cholesterol metabolism on humans.

Keywords: steroids, cholesterol, sitosterol, plants, animals, metabolism
_________________________
Полный текст статьи печатается в переводной версии журнала Russian Journal of Bioorganic Chemistry, V.46, Issue 5, P. 869–872 (Springer).