HMG-CoA reductase

Common card · No. 408844

HMG-CoA reductase, or 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase, is enzyme that in humans is encoded by the gene HMGCR. It is the rate-limiting enzyme (EC 1.1.1.34) of the mevalonate pathway, which is the metabolic pathway that produces cholesterol and other isoprenoids. HMGCR catalyzes the conversion of HMG-CoA to mevalonic acid, a necessary step in the biosynthesis of cholesterol. Normally in mammalian cells this enzyme is competitively suppressed so that its effect is controlled. Accordingly, HMGCR is the target of the widely available cholesterol-lowering drugs known collectively as statins, which help to treat dyslipidemia. HMG-CoA reductase is anchored in the membrane of the endoplasmic reticulum, and was long regarded as having seven transmembrane domains, with the active site located in a long carboxyl terminal domain in the cytosol. More recent evidence shows it to contain eight transmembrane domains. In humans, the gene for HMG-CoA reductase (NADPH) is located on the long...

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