“…Although details concerning the structure and function of the HMG-CoA reductase catalytic domain are beginning to be solved (Darnay et al, 1992;Lawrence et al, 1995;Rogers et al, 1997;Tabernero et al, 1999), the HMG-CoA reductase membrane domain remains much more cryptic. In plants, the membrane domain contains two transmembrane helices (Denbow et al, 1996;Re et al, 1997), whereas in animals and fungi, it contains of a series of seven or eight transmembrane helices (Liscum et al, 1985;Basson et al, 1988;Sengstag et al, 1990;Olender and Simon, 1992;Roitelman et al, 1992). Although there is little obvious primary sequence conservation, the structural conservation of this complex membrane domain over the 1 billion years of evolution since divergence of fungi and animals (Doolittle et al, 1996;Lum et al, 1996;Feng et al, 1997) suggests that the structure has an important functional role.…”