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Desmosterolosis is a rare autosomal recessive disorder characterized by multiple congenital anomalies. Patients with desmosterolosis have elevated levels of the cholesterol precursor desmosterol, in plasma, tissue, and cultured cells; this abnormality suggests a deficiency of the enzyme 3β-hydroxysterol Δ²⁴-reductase (DHCR24), which, in cholesterol biosynthesis, catalyzes the reduction of the Δ²⁴ double bond of sterol intermediates. We identified the human DHCR24 cDNA, by the similarity between the encoded protein and a recently characterized plant enzyme—DWF1/DIM, from Arabidopsis thaliana—catalyzing a different but partially similar reaction in steroid/sterol biosynthesis in plants. Heterologous expression, in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, of the DHCR24 cDNA, followed by enzyme-activity measurements, confirmed that it encodes DHCR24. The encoded DHCR24 protein has a calculated …