Skip Navigation


Mol. Hum. Reprod. Advance Access originally published online on March 25, 2009
Molecular Human Reproduction 2009 15(6):321-333; doi:10.1093/molehr/gap025
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
15/6/321    most recent
gap025v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Manna, P. R.
Right arrow Articles by Stocco, D. M.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Manna, P. R.
Right arrow Articles by Stocco, D. M.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Regulation of the steroidogenic acute regulatory protein gene expression: present and future perspectives

Pulak R. Manna{dagger}, Matthew T. Dyson{dagger} and Douglas M. Stocco1

Department of Cell Biology and Biochemistry, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, TX 79430, USA

1 Corresponding address: Fax: +1 806-743-2990; E-mail: doug.stocco{at}ttuhsc.edu

Steroid hormones are synthesized in the adrenal gland, gonads, placenta and brain and are critical for normal reproductive function and bodily homeostasis. The steroidogenic acute regulatory (StAR) protein regulates the rate-limiting step in steroid biosynthesis, i.e. the delivery of cholesterol from the outer to the inner mitochondrial membrane. The expression of the StAR protein is predominantly regulated by cAMP-dependent mechanisms in the adrenal and gonads. Whereas StAR plays an indispensable role in the regulation of steroid biosynthesis, a complete understanding of the regulation of its expression and function in steroidogenesis is not available. It has become clear that the regulation of StAR gene expression is a complex process that involves the interaction of a diversity of hormones and multiple signaling pathways that coordinate the cooperation and interaction of transcriptional machinery, as well as a number of post-transcriptional mechanisms that govern mRNA and protein expression. However, information is lacking on how the StAR gene is regulated in vivo such that it is expressed at appropriate times during development and is confined to the steroidogenic cells. Thus, it is not surprising that the precise mechanism involved in the regulation of StAR gene has not yet been established, which is the key to understanding the regulation of steroidogenesis in the context of both male and female development and function.

Key words: StAR gene expression/cAMP signaling/AKAP/transcription/translation

{dagger} These authors contributed equally.

Submitted on January 6, 2009; resubmitted on March 2, 2009; accepted on March 20, 2009.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.