Sterol O-acyltransferase (acyl-Coenzyme A: cholesterol acyltransferase) 1, also known as SOAT1, is an enzyme

Enzyme

Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...

 which in humans is encoded by the SOAT1 gene

Gene

A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...

.

Function

Acyl-coenzyme A:cholesterol acyltransferase is an intracellular protein located in the endoplasmic reticulum

Endoplasmic reticulum

The endoplasmic reticulum is an organelle of cells in eukaryotic organisms that forms an interconnected network of tubules, vesicles, and cisternae...

 that forms cholesterol ester

Cholesteryl ester

A cholesteryl ester is, as its name would imply, an ester of cholesterol. The ester bond is formed between the carboxylate group of a fatty acid and the hydroxyl group of cholesterol. Cholesteryl Esters have a lower solubility in water than Cholesterol and, in other words, are more hydrophobic...

s from cholesterol

Cholesterol

Cholesterol is a complex isoprenoid. Specifically, it is a waxy steroid of fat that is produced in the liver or intestines. It is used to produce hormones and cell membranes and is transported in the blood plasma of all mammals. It is an essential structural component of mammalian cell membranes...

. Accumulation of cholesterol esters as cytoplasmic lipid droplets within macrophages and smooth muscle cells is a characteristic feature of the early stages of atherosclerotic plaques (Cadigan et al., 1988).

Further reading