A possible regulatory role of squalene epoxidase in chinese hamster ovary cells

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Abstract
Growth of Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells in the presence of 20% lipid depleted serum (LDS) for only 2 hr results in an increase in the synthesis of [14C] sterols from [14C] mevalonate and from [14C] squalene compared with cells grown under normal growth conditions in the presence of 10% fetal calf serum (FCS). This enhanced sterol synthesis increases with time of exposure of the cells to LDS. However, exposing these cells for time periods up to 42.5 hr to a growth medium containing 20% LDS did not result in enhanced [14C] sterol synthesis from [14C] 2,3-oxidosqualene. Incubation of these cells with [14C] mevalonate resulted in the accumulation of [14C] squalene regardless of the presence of either LDS or FCS. These results suggest that squalene epoxidase is a regulatory enzyme in the cholesterol biosynthetic pathway in CHO.