STARD3NL explained

MENTHO or STARD3 N-terminal like protein (STARD3NL) is an integral membrane protein of unknown function.^[1] As the alternate name implies, MENTHO, short for "MLN64 N-terminal homologue", contains a region in its N-terminus similar to that found in STARD3, also known as MLN64, but lacks the StAR-related transfer domain (START) that characterizes all other proteins given the "STARD" (START domain-containing) name. The N-terminal domain is called a MENTAL (MLN64 N-terminal) domain.

Like MLN64, MENTHO is widely expressed in tissues of the body. Within the cell, it localizes to the membranes of late endosomes and may interact there with MLN64. It is suggested that in combination with MLN64, this protein helps regulate the flow of cholesterol through the endosomal pathway.^[2]

Further reading

• Toward a complete human genome sequence. . Genome Res. . 8 . 11 . 1097–108 . 1999 . 9847074 . 10.1101/gr.8.11.1097. Sanger Centre . The . Washington University Genome Sequencing Cente . The . free .
• Alpy F, Wendling C, Rio MC, Tomasetto C . MENTHO, an MLN64 homologue devoid of the START domain. . J. Biol. Chem. . 277 . 52 . 50780–7 . 2003 . 12393907 . 10.1074/jbc.M208290200 . free .
• Strausberg RL, Feingold EA, Grouse LH, etal . Generation and initial analysis of more than 15,000 full-length human and mouse cDNA sequences. . Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. . 99 . 26 . 16899–903 . 2003 . 12477932 . 10.1073/pnas.242603899 . 139241 . 2002PNAS...9916899M . free .
• Scherer SW, Cheung J, MacDonald JR, etal . Human chromosome 7: DNA sequence and biology. . Science . 300 . 5620 . 767–72 . 2003 . 12690205 . 10.1126/science.1083423 . 2882961 . 2003Sci...300..767S .
• Hillier LW, Fulton RS, Fulton LA, etal . The DNA sequence of human chromosome 7. . Nature . 424 . 6945 . 157–64 . 2003 . 12853948 . 10.1038/nature01782 . 2003Natur.424..157H . free .
• Clark HF, Gurney AL, Abaya E, etal . The secreted protein discovery initiative (SPDI), a large-scale effort to identify novel human secreted and transmembrane proteins: a bioinformatics assessment. . Genome Res. . 13 . 10 . 2265–70 . 2003 . 12975309 . 10.1101/gr.1293003 . 403697 .
• Ota T, Suzuki Y, Nishikawa T, etal . Complete sequencing and characterization of 21,243 full-length human cDNAs. . Nat. Genet. . 36 . 1 . 40–5 . 2004 . 14702039 . 10.1038/ng1285 . free .
• Tuckey RC, Bose HS, Czerwionka I, Miller WL . Molten globule structure and steroidogenic activity of N-218 MLN64 in human placental mitochondria. . Endocrinology . 145 . 4 . 1700–7 . 2004 . 14715710 . 10.1210/en.2003-1034 . free .
• Gerhard DS, Wagner L, Feingold EA, etal . The status, quality, and expansion of the NIH full-length cDNA project: the Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC). . Genome Res. . 14 . 10B . 2121–7 . 2004 . 15489334 . 10.1101/gr.2596504 . 528928 .
• Alpy F, Latchumanan VK, Kedinger V, etal . Functional characterization of the MENTAL domain. . J. Biol. Chem. . 280 . 18 . 17945–52 . 2005 . 15718238 . 10.1074/jbc.M500723200 . free .
• Olsen JV, Blagoev B, Gnad F, etal . Global, in vivo, and site-specific phosphorylation dynamics in signaling networks. . Cell . 127 . 3 . 635–48 . 2006 . 17081983 . 10.1016/j.cell.2006.09.026 . 7827573 . free .

Notes and References

1. Web site: Entrez Gene: STARD3NL STARD3 N-terminal like.
2. Alpy F, Tomasetto C . MLN64 and MENTHO, two mediators of endosomal cholesterol transport. . Biochem. Soc. Trans. . 34 . Pt 3 . 343–5 . 2006 . 16709157 . 10.1042/BST0340343 .