This is an intronless gene that is involved in cholesterol and lipid metabolism. The encoded protein is a membrane protein and contains clusters of histidine residues essential for catalytic activity. Unlike most other sterol hydroxylases, this enzyme is a member of a small family of enzymes that utilize diiron cofactors to catalyze the hydroxylation of hydrophobic substrates. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]
Forensic Context
A study in humans identified a molecular signature of chronic cocaine abuse in postmortem midbrain dopamine neurons, where the CH25H transcript was upregulated 1.8-fold and was diagnostic for assigning subjects to the cocaine-abusing cohort with significant accuracy [Bannon et al. DOI:10.1038/Npp.2014.70].