Phosphatide group transfer

It is noteworthy that diglyceride residues can also be linked with CDP. The product is an active derivative capable of reacting with inositol to give an inositol phosphatide. Cardiolipin, a bisphosphatidylglycerol, also might arise by a transfer of phosphatide groups. 

Transfer of a phosphocholine residue to the free OH group gives rise to phosphatidylcholine (lecithin enzyme l-alkyl-2-acetyl-glycerolcholine phosphotransferase 2.7.8.16). The phosphocholine residue is derived from the precursor CDP-choline (see p. 110). Phos-phatidylethanolamine is similarly formed from CDP-ethanolamine and DAG. By contrast, phosphatidylserine is derived from phosphatidylethanolamine by an exchange of the amino alcohol. Further reactions serve to interconvert the phospholipids—e.g., phosphatidylserine can be converted into phosphatidylethanolamine by decarboxylation, and the latter can then be converted into phosphatidylcholine by methylation with S-adenosyl methionine (not shown see also p. 409). The biosynthesis of phosphatidylino-sitol starts from phosphatidate rather than DAG. 

Phosphatidate is formed by successive acylations of glycerol 3-phosphate by acyl CoA. Hydrolysis of its phosphoiyl group followed by acyl- ation yields a triacylglycerol. CDP-diacylglycerol, the activated intermediate in the de novo synthesis of several phosphoglycerides, is formed from phosphatidate and CTP. The activated phosphatidyl unit is then transferred to the hydroxyl group of a polar alcohol, such as serine, to form a phospholipid such as phosphatidyl serine. 

The effect of different phospholipid head groups on the protein-stimulated transfer by phosphatidylcholine- and phosphatidylinositol-specific proteins has been studied. Contradictory results were obtained for the effect of acidic phospholipids on the transfer of phospholipid by the phosphatidylcholine exchange protein from beef liver. DiCorleto et al. (1977) used small unilamellar vesicle-mitochondria and small unilamellar vesicle-multilamellar vesicles to study the effect of varying amounts of acidic phospholipids incorporated into phosphatidylcholine donor vesicles. Up to 20 mol% phosphatidic acid or phosphatidylinositol in the donor was found to stimulate the transfer of phosphatidylcholine in both assay systems. Wirtz et al. (1979) and Hellings et al. (1974) found different results for the phosphatidylcholine exchange protein with unilamellar and multilamellar vesicles. In these assays, the incorporation of acidic phospholipids (phosphatidic acid or phosphatidylinositol) into the donor particles had an inhibitory effect on the rate of phosphatidylcholine transfer. 

Fig. 5. Pathway depicting how flux through phosphatidylcholine (product of reaction 3) can promote acyl group diversity in plant triacylglycerols. Production of 18 2 (boxed) at the sn-2 position and its transfer to TG is used as a sample modification. Other fatty acid alterations may be substituted. Enzymes 1, glycerol-3-phosphate acyl-CoA acyltransferase and lysophosphatidic acid acyl-CoA acyltransferase 2, phosphatidic acid phosphatase 3, diacylglyceroliCDP-aminoalcohol aminoalcoholphosphotransferase 4, 18 l-desaturase or other fatty acid modifying enzyme 5, phosphlipid diacylglycerol acyltransferase 6, diacylglycerol acyltransferase 7, acyl-CoA phosphatidylcholine acyltransferase or phospholipase plus acyl-CoA synthetase.

Phosphatidic acid lies at a metabolic branch point. On the one hand, the phospho group can be removed by a specific phosphatase (step d) and another acyl group (most often an unsaturated acyl group) may be transferred onto the resulting diacylglycerol (DAG, diglyceride, step to form a triacylglycerol... 

In the first mechanism, phosphatidic acid is cleaved by a phosphatase to form diacylglycerol (DAG). DAG then reacts with an activated head group. In the synthesis of phosphatidylcholine, the head group choline is activated by combining with CTP to form CDP-choline (Fig. 33.28). Phosphocholine is then transferred to carbon 3 of DAG, and CMP is released. Phosphatidylethanolamine is produced by a similar reaction involving CDP-ethanolamine. 

A cytidylyl group is transferred from CTP to L-a-phosphatidic acid (I), with the formation of CDP-diglyceride and pyrophosphate ... 

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