bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/047233; this version posted April 5, 2016. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-ND 4.0 International license. 1 Characterization of sterol synthesis in bacteria 2 3 Jeremy H. Wei, Xinchi Yin and Paula V. Welander* 4 Department of Earth System Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA 5 6 7 *Correspondence: 8 Dr. Paula V. Welander 9 Stanford University 10 Department of Earth System Science 11 473 Via Ortega, Rm 140 12 Stanford, CA 94305 13
[email protected] 14 15 Running Title: Bacterial sterol synthesis 16 Keywords: lipid biosynthesis, sterols, biomarkers, squalene monooxygenase, oxidosqualene 17 cyclase, myxobacteria, methanotrophs, planctomycetes 18 1 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/047233; this version posted April 5, 2016. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-ND 4.0 International license. 19 Abstract 20 21 Sterols are essential components of eukaryotic cells whose biosynthesis and function in 22 eukaryotes has been studied extensively. Sterols are also recognized as the diagenetic precursors 23 of steranes preserved in sedimentary rocks where they can function as geological proxies for 24 eukaryotic organisms and/or aerobic metabolisms and environments. However, production of 25 these lipids is not restricted to the eukaryotic domain as a few bacterial species also synthesize 26 sterols.