Headgroups choline

Figure 1 Chemical structure and space-filling representation of a phosphatidylcholine, DPPC. Different parts of the molecule are referred to by the labels at the left together the choline and phosphate are referred to as the headgroup, which is zwitteriomc. In the space-filling model, H atoms are white, O and P gray, and C black. (From Ref. 55.)...

Zone I is the hydrophilic part of the bilayer. It includes the polar headgroup consisting of positively charged choline ammonium group and negatively charged phosphate... 

The environment of a cell membrane is often modeled by a monolayer of phospholipid on the air-water interface. Our attempts to detect enantiomeric recognition in such films has largely involved dipalmitoylphosphatidyl choline (DPPC), which has a chiral headgroup situated at the junction of two 16-carbon unit chains. 

A more successful strategy for developing sensitive and facile assays to monitor PLCBc activity involves converting the phosphorylated headgroup into a colorimetric agent via a series of enzyme coupled reactions. For example, phosphatidylcholine hydrolysis can be easily monitored in a rapid and sensitive manner by enzymatically converting the phosphorylcholine product into a red dye through the sequential action of alkaline phosphatase, choline oxidase, and peroxidase [33]. This assay, in which 10 nmol of phosphorylcholine can be readily detected, may be executed in a 96-well format and has been utilized in deuterium isotope and solvent viscosity studies [34] and to evaluate inhibitors of PLCBc [33] and site-directed mutants of PLCBc [35,36]. 

Because the preceding chromogenic assay rely on choline quantitation, the hydrolysis of substrates with headgroups other than choline cannot be followed. To circumvent this problem, another useful protocol was devised whereby the phosphorylated headgroup produced by the PLCBc hydrolysis is treated with APase, and the inorganic phosphate (Pi) that is thus generated is quantitated by the formation of a blue complex with ammonium molybdate/ascorbic acid 5 nmol of phosphate may be easily detected. This assay, which may also be performed in a 96-well format, has been utilized to determine the kinetic parameters for the hydrolysis of a number of substrates by PLCBc [37,38]. 

Although the stabilizing interactions between the amino acid side chains of PLC/j, and the choline headgroup are readily apparent in the PLC fc-phosphonate inhibitor complex, it is more difficult to identify contacts between the protein and the acyl chains of the inhibitor [45]. In part this is because thermal motion in the acyl side chains, especially the sn-1 chain, renders them somewhat disordered. Consequently, the measured distances between the side chain carbons... 

Water molecules are absent from the hydrophobic interior, but both the choline and the phosphate headgroups are fully solvated [41]. Similarly, the first hydration shell of the sulfate headgroup of SDS is formed rather by water molecules than by sodium ions. Because of hydration the charge density due to the lipid headgroups is overcompensated by the water dipoles, thereby reducing the transmembrane potential by 50-100 mV across the lipid water interface and resulting in a negative potential at the aqueous side [42]. 

Morrow et al. also examined the effects of pressure and temperature on DPPC and DMPC choline headgroup conformation using deuterium nuclear magnetic resonance. The electric dipole resulting from charge separation in... 

The phospholipid monolayers examined in this study were all saturated, symmetric, 1,2-diacyl-j -glycero-3-phosphate-based lipids. Four different lipid headgroups attached to the phosphate were examined choline, ethanolamine, glycerol and serine. Each lipid features a glycerol backbone, two saturated fatty acid chains and a phosphatidyl headgroup. 

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