Androgen biosynthesis is the enzymatic formation of androgenic steroids from cholesterol-derived precursors. Steroidogenic pathways use cytochrome P450 enzymes and hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases to modify the carbon skeleton and oxygen-containing functional groups of steroid intermediates [1]. Cholesterol delivery to the mitochondrial steroidogenic machinery initiates precursor formation, with steroidogenic acute regulatory protein participating in the transfer process [2]. The activity of this protein at the outer mitochondrial membrane links the supply of substrate with acute regulation of steroid production [3]. Subsequent reactions in steroidogenic tissues generate androgen precursors and active androgens through tissue-specific combinations of enzymes [4]. The biosynthetic sequence integrates precursor availability, intracellular transport, enzyme expression, and catalytic conversion, establishing the identities and relative amounts of androgenic products formed by a cell [5].
- androgens
- steroidogenesis
- hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases
- intracrine metabolism
Steroid Chemistry and Biochemistry·Molecular Biology·Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology·Life Sciences
References
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- Dong Lin; Teruo Sugawara; Jerome F. Strauss; Barbara J. Clark; Douglas M. Stocco; Paul Saenger; Alan Rogol; Walter L. Miller; Role of Steroidogenic Acute Regulatory Protein in Adrenal and Gonadal Steroidogenesis. Science 1995, 267, 1828-1831, 10.1126/science.7892608.
- Himangshu S. Bose; Vishwanath R. Lingappa; Walter L. Miller; Rapid regulation of steroidogenesis by mitochondrial protein import. Nature 2002, 417, 87-91, 10.1038/417087a.
- Hayley M. Scott; J. Ian Mason; Richard M. Sharpe; Steroidogenesis in the Fetal Testis and Its Susceptibility to Disruption by Exogenous Compounds. Endocr. Rev. 2009, 30, 883-925, 10.1210/er.2009-0016.
- Lina Schiffer; Wiebke Arlt; Karl-Heinz Storbeck; Intracrine androgen biosynthesis, metabolism and action revisited. Mol. Cell. Endocrinol. 2018, 465, 4-26, 10.1016/j.mce.2017.08.016.