Abstract A 3 β-hydroxysteroid oxidoreductase was isolated and characterized in the microsomes of Digitalis lanata cell cultures. The enzyme catalyzes the conversion of 5α-pregnane-3,20-dione to 5a-pregnan-3 β-ol-20-one and requires NAD(P)H2. The enzyme was found to have a pH optimum of 80. The reaction had an optimum incubation temperature of 25 °C with linear reduction for the first 4 h, reaching maximum enzyme activity after 7 h. Substrate kinetics for 5a-pregnane-3,20-dione and NADPH2 resulted in apparent Km-values of 18.5-20 (µM for 5a-pregnane-3,20-dione and 50-120 µM for the co-substrate NADPH2. In order to localize 3β-hydroxysteroid oxidoreductase differential centrifugation as well as linear sucrose density gradient centrifugation were performed. The results obtained lead to the conclusion that 3β-hydroxysteroid oxidoreductase is not associated with a single cell compartment, but consists of a major soluble part and a markedly smaller part of endoplasmic reticulum-associated activity
The role of deoxycorticosterone in the biosynthesis of cardenolides in Digitalis lanata
