]dihydrosphingosine radiolabeling studies demonstrated that mutant cells had reduced rates of biosynthesis and lower steadystate levels of complex sphingolipids while accumulating certain hydroxylated ceramide species. Phospholipid radiolabeling studies showed that arv1⌬ cells harbored defects in the rates of biosynthesis and steadystate levels of phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylserine, and phosphatidylglycerol. Neutral lipid radiolabeling studies indicated that the rate of biosynthesis and steady-state levels of sterol ester were increased in arv1⌬ cells. Moreover, these same studies demonstrated that arv1⌬ cells had decreased rates of biosynthesis and steady-state levels of total fatty acid and fatty acid alcohols. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analyses examining different fatty acid species showed that arv1⌬ cells had decreased levels of C18:1 fatty acid. Additional gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analyses determining the levels of various molecular sterol species in arv1⌬ cells showed that mutant cells accumulated early sterol intermediates. Using fluorescence microscopy we found that GFP-Arv1p localizes to the endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi. Interestingly, the heterologous expression of the human ARV1 cDNA suppressed the sphingolipid metabolic defects of arv1⌬ cells. We hypothesize that in eukaryotic cells, Arv1p functions in the sphingolipid metabolic pathway perhaps as a transporter of ceramides between the endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi.Sphingolipids serve as constituents of membrane bilayers (1) and have emerged as potent signaling metabolites (2-5). Sphingolipid synthesis in eukaryotes begins with the condensation of serine and palmitoyl-CoA, a reaction catalyzed by the Lcb1p/ Lcb2p serine palmitoyltransferase subunits (Fig. 1) (6 -10). Ceramide serves as the backbone for all complex sphingolipids, and its biosynthesis is the point where animal and fungal sphingolipid biosynthesis begin to diverge (11). In higher eukaryotes, there are over three hundred different types of complex sphingolipids found in membranes (1), whereas in the yeast S. cerevisiae there are three, inositolphosphorylceramide (IPC), 1 mannose inositolphosphorylceramide (MIPC), and mannose diinositolphosphorylceramide (MIP 2 C). However, IPC, MIPC, and MIP 2 C lipids can differ in their hydroxylation state, giving rise to fifteen possible complex sphingolipids (11).The accumulation of free cholesterol in animal cells causes toxicity (12). One mechanism by which cells relieve this toxic effect is through the use of the membrane-associated SREBP transcription factors, which precisely regulate the genes that are required for sterol biosynthesis and LDL receptor expression (13,14). Worgall et al. (15) recently showed that SREBP activation was regulated by ceramide. Others have shown that animal cells regulate sphingolipid metabolism in response to subtle and transient changes in cholesterol (16,17). In S. cerevisiae, sphingolipid metabolism appears to be coordinately regulated with phospholipid an...