Hi Cara,
At least S.c. does not have cholesterol, or at least not very much. In
my previous lab we wanted to use the membrane permeabilizer streptolysin O
(SLO) for semi-in vitro experiments and it binds to cholesterol and forms
pores. It does not work in S.c.. I believe the main membrane sterol is
ergosterol, which SLO just laughs at.
I think P.p. might have cholesterol because I seem to recall SLO being
used successfully in Subramani's lab looking at peroxisome import. I
would start there and also look up references by Daum, an authority on
yeast lipids and membranes.
Kevin Morano
Thiele Lab
