Phosphatidic acid transport protein

Figure 2. The so-called canonical phosphoinositide pathway . The continuous phosphorylation/dephosphorylation reactions allow a steady-state level of Ptdins, PtdIns(4)P and PtdIns(4,5)P2 in the plasma membrane (PM). Cleavage of PtdIns(4,5)P2 by phospholipase C (PLC) generates the two well-known second messengers, inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (Ins(l,4,5)P3) and diacylglycerol (DAG). Besides its role as a protein kinase C (PKC) activator, DAG can be phosphorylated to phosphatidic acid (PA). The resynthesis of Ptdins from inositol and PA occurs mainly in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). PPi, inorganic phosphate. PA-Pase, phosphatidic acid phosphatase. PA-TP, phosphatidic acid transport protein. PtdIns-TP, phosphatidylinositol transport protein. CDP-DAG, cytidine diphosphate-diacylglycerol. CMP, CDP and CTP, cytidine mono-, di- and triphosphate, respectively.

Albumin is the main plasma protein, with a molecular weight of about 69 kDa, and is important for normal plasma oncotic pressure and the transport of many biologically active substances, including free fatty acids, phospholipids (e.g., lysophosphatidic acid), prostanoids, heavy metals, steroid hormones, and vitamins. Albumin-bound lysophosphatidic acid serves as a survival factor for cultured mouse proximal tubular cells (L4). Lysophosphatidic acid is an exquisitely potent inhibitor of apoptosis, comparable with growth factors, for example, EGF. The influence of lysophosphatidic acid on the survival of tubular cells depends on the activation of phophatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) with subsequent activation of Akt and pp70s6k. pp70s6k is a rapamycin-inhibited kinase, which plays an important role in the cellular proliferation. Lysophosphatidic acid also serves as a proliferation factor of mouse proximal tubular cells. Further albumin-bound factors important for the survival of the proximal tubular cells are phosphatidic acid... 

PI is synthesized from myo-inositol and DAG. First DAG is phosphorylated to phosphatidic acid (PA), then PA and CTP react to form CDP-diacylglycerol. The synthesis of PI (from CDP-diacylglycerol and inositol) occurs in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and it is transported from there to other membranes by a PI-specific transfer protein. Once at the plasma membrane, PI can be sequentially phosphorylated by PI... 

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