Phosphatidylethanolamine biosynthesis

The regulation of triacylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, and phosphatidylethanolamine biosynthesis is driven by the availability of free fatty acids. Those that escape oxidation are preferentiaUy converted to phos-phohpids, and when this requirement is satisfied they are used for triacylglycerol synthesis. 

Houwehng, M., 1999b, Inhibition of phosphatidylchohne and phosphatidylethanolamine biosynthesis in rat-2 fibroblasts by ceU-permeable ceramides. Eur. J. Biochem. 264 152-160... 

In prokaryotes, phosphatidylserine is made from CDP-diacylglycerol (see fig. 19.3). The enzyme for this reaction is absent in animal cells, which rely on a base exchange reaction in which serine and ethanolamine are interchanged (fig. 19.8). Although the reaction is reversible, it usually proceeds in the direction of phosphatidylserine synthesis. Phosphatidylserine can be converted back to phos-phatidylethanolamine by a decarboxylation reaction in the mitochondria. This may be the preferred route for phosphatidylethanolamine biosynthesis in some animal cells. Furthermore these two reactions (see fig. 19.8) establish a cycle that has the net effect of converting serine into ethanolamine. This is the main route for ethanolamine synthesis... 

Additional regulation of phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine biosynthesis occurs at the second step in the biosynthetic sequence (see fig. 19.4) where either CDP-choline or CDP-ethanolamine are made. For phosphatidylcholine biosynthesis, the activity of CTP phos-phocholine cytidylyltransferase (which makes CDP-choline) is governed by an unusual mechanism. The enzyme... 

S Additional information <12, 13, 15, 20> (<12, 13, 15> bacteria enzyme functions in a biodegradative mode, higher organisms biosynthetic function [2] <20> rate-controlling step in phosphatidylethanolamine biosynthesis [17]) [2, 17]... 

Phosphatidylethanolamine synthesis begins with phosphorylation of ethanol-amine to form phosphoethanolamine (Figure 25.19). The next reaction involves transfer of a cytidylyl group from CTP to form CDP-ethanolamine and pyrophosphate. As always, PP, hydrolysis drives this reaction forward. A specific phosphoethanolamine transferase then links phosphoethanolamine to the diacylglycerol backbone. Biosynthesis of phosphatidylcholine is entirely analogous because animals synthesize it directly. All of the choline utilized in this pathway must be acquired from the diet. Yeast, certain bacteria, and animal livers, however, can convert phosphatidylethanolamine to phosphatidylcholine by methylation reactions involving S-adenosylmethionine (see Chapter 26). 

Figure 24-2. Biosynthesis of triaq/lglycerol and phospholipids. ( , Monoacylglycerol pathway (D, glycerol phosphate pathway.) Phosphatidylethanolamine may be formed from ethanolamine by a pathway similar to that shown for the formation of phosphatidylcholine from choline.

Cadas H, di Tomaso E, Piomelli D. Occurrence and biosynthesis of endogenous cannabinoid precursor, A-arachidonyl phosphatidylethanolamine, in rat brain. J Neurosci 1997 17 1226-1242. 

Once synthesized several factors influence the particular leaflet of the membrane lipid bilayer where the lipids reside. One is static interactions with intrinsic and extrinsic membrane proteins which, by virtue of their mechanism of biosynthesis, are also asymmetric with respect to the membrane. The interaction of the cytoplasmic protein, spectrin with the erythrocye membrane has been the subject of a number of studies. Coupling of spectrin to the transmembrane proteins, band 3 and glycophorin 3 via ankyrin and protein 4.1, respectively, has been well documented (van Doit et al, 1998). Interaction of spectrin with membrane lipids is still somewhat conjectural but recent studies have characterized such interactions more precisely. O Toole et al. (2000) have used a fluorescine derivative of phosphatidylethanolamine to investigate the binding affinity of specttin to lipid bilayers comprised of phosphatidylcholine or a binary mixture of phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylserine. They concluded on the basis... 

Kuge, O., Nishijima, M., and Akamatsu, Y., 1986, Phosphatidylserine biosynthesis in cultured Chinese hamster ovary ceUs. III. Genetic evidence for utilization of phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine as precursors. J.Biol. Chem. 261 5795-5798. 

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. 

Lysophospholipids have been found in butter serum by Cho et al. (1977). They characterized the sn-1 and -2 lysophosphatidylcholines and phosphatidylethanolamines. It is not known if these compounds are products of degradation or remnants of biosynthesis. Cho et al. (1977) searched for, but did not find, another possible product of enzymatic degradation of milk, phosphatidic acid. Phosphatidic acid can be formed by the action of phospholipase D on phosphatidylcholine, for example, but this enzymatic activity was not detected. The compound is also an important intermediate in the biosynthesis of lipids, but the concentration in tissue is always very low. The amount is also low in milk. Cho et al. (1977) found 1.2 and 0.9 (percent of total lipid P) of the lyso compounds above. The quantities of the other phospholipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, 27.3 -choline, 29.1 -serine, 13.4 -inositol, 2.5 and sphingomyelin, 25.6. 

Many of the proteins of membranes are enzymes. For example, the entire electron transport system of mitochondria (Chapter 18) is embedded in membranes and a number of highly lipid-soluble enzymes have been isolated. Examples are phosphatidylseiine decarboxylase, which converts phosphatidylserine to phosphatidylethanolamine in biosynthesis of the latter, and isoprenoid alcohol phosphokinase, which participates in bacterial cell wall synthesis (Chapter 20). A number of ectoenzymes are present predominantly on the outsides of cell membranes.329 Enzymes such as phospholipases (Chapter 12), which are present on membrane surfaces, often are relatively inactive when removed from the lipid environment but are active in the presence of phospholipid bilay-ers.330 33 The distribution of lipid chain lengths as well as the cholesterol content of the membrane can affect enzymatic activities.332... 

Phosphatidylserine biosynthesis in animals is catalyzed by a base exchange enzyme on the endoplasmic reticulum. Decarboxylation of phosphatidylserine occurs in mitochondria. The cyclic process of phosphatidylserine formation from phosphatidylethanolamine and the reformation of phosphatidylethanolamine by decarboxylation has the net effect of converting serine to ethanolamine. This is a major mechanism for the synthesis of ethanolamine in many eukaryotes. 

The final reactions for the biosynthesis of phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylserine, and phosphatidylinositol all occur on the cytosolic surface of the endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus (fig. 19.9). By contrast, phosphatidylglycerol and diphosphatidylglycerol are synthesized on the mitochondrial membrane where they remain for the most part. 

The energy state of the cell dictates the relative rates of phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, and triacylglycerol biosynthesis. When energy is in short supply, the level of cAMP rises leading to inhibition of fatty acid biosynthesis (see chapter 18). This in turn decreases the supply of diacylglycerol, which limits the synthesis of phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, and triacylglycerol. When sufficient diacylglycerol is pres-... 

Bjerve, K.S. (1973). The Ca2+-dependent biosynthesis of lecithin, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylserine in rat liver subcellular particles. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 296,549-562. Bloch, F., Hansen, W.W., Packard, M. (1946). Nuclear induction. Phys. Rev. 69,127. Borkenhagen, L.F., Kennedy, E.P., Fielding, L. (1961). Enzymatic formation and decarboxylation of phosphatidylserine. J. Biol. Chem. 236, PC28-PC30. 

Dopamine is also the precursor for noradrenaline and adrenaline biosynthesis. Phosphatidylethanolamine is the precursor for choline synthesis, Section 14.2.1. ... 

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