Steroidogenic acute regulatory (StAR)-related lipid transfer proteins possess a START (steroidogenic acute regulatory-related lipid transfer) domain. START domains are conserved protein modules involved in the non-vesicular intracellular transport of lipids and cholesterol in mammals. Fifteen mammalian proteins, divided in five subfamilies, are reported to possess a START domain. Members of the STARD4 subfamily, i.e. STARD4, 5 and 6 are essentially single START domains and are thought to be involved in the intracellular transport of cholesterol. No structure of a cholesterol-bound START domain from this family has been resolved yet. The determination of the structure of such a complex would contribute to a better understanding of the mechanism of ligand binding and transport by START domains, two unresolved aspects of their structural biology. In this context, we have undertaken the structure determination of a ligand-bound form of STARD5 by NMR. Here, we report the (1)H, (13)C and (15)N backbone resonance assignments of the ligand-free STARD5.