Ergosterol

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The steroid precursor of vitamin D₂. It is found in cell membranes of fungi, and is their functional equivalent of cholesterol. It is also found in the membranes of some protists. countable, uncountable

    "Terbinafine has a unique mechanism of action among the antifugal agents (Petranyi et al, 1984; Balfour and Faulds, 1992), inhibiting the synthesis of ergosterol, a key sterol component in the plasma membrane of the fungal cell."

  2. 2
    a plant sterol that is converted into vitamin D by ultraviolet radiation wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
ergosterin

Example

More examples

"Terbinafine has a unique mechanism of action among the antifugal agents (Petranyi et al, 1984; Balfour and Faulds, 1992), inhibiting the synthesis of ergosterol, a key sterol component in the plasma membrane of the fungal cell."

Etymology

From French ergot + sterol.

Related phrases

cell membranevitamin d2

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.