Serine phospholipids

In a recent study, a serine-phospholipid-selective phospholipase A has been purified and cloned its cDNA from rat platelets, which secrete two types of phospholipases upon stimulation (71). The purified enzyme from extracellular medium of activated rat platelets, yielded a 55-kDa protein band on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The presence of active serine residues was confirmed by labeling the 55-kDa protein with pHJDiisopropyl fluorophosphate, an inhibitor of the enzyme. Based on cDNA for the enzyme cloned from a rat megakaryocyte cDNA library, the 456-amino acid... 

Sato, T.. Aoki, J Nagai, Y Dohmae, N Takio, K Doi, T.. Arai, H., and Inoue, K. (1997), Serine phospholipid-specific phospholipase A that is secreted from activated platelets, A new member of the lipase family. J. Biol Chem. 211, 2192-2198. Seifert, J., and Pewnim, T. (1992), Alteration of mice L-tryptophan metabolism by the organophosphorous acid iriester diatrinon. Biochem. Pharmacol. 44, 2243-2250. 

Phospholipids. Phospholipids, components of every cell membrane, are active determinants of membrane permeabiUty. They are sources of energy, components of certain enzyme systems, and involved in Hpid transport in plasma. Because of their polar nature, phosphoUpids can act as emulsifying agents (42). The stmcture of most phosphoUpids resembles that of triglycerides except that one fatty acid radical has been replaced by a radical derived from phosphoric acid and a nitrogen base, eg, choline or serine. 

Mammals synthesize phosphatidylserine (PS) in a calcium ion-dependent reaction involving aminoalcohol exchange (Figure 25.21). The enzyme catalyzing this reaction is associated with the endoplasmic reticulum and will accept phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and other phospholipid substrates. A mitochondrial PS decarboxylase can subsequently convert PS to PE. No other pathway converting serine to ethanolamine has been found. 

Tyrosine phosphorylated IRS interacts with and activates PI 3-kinase [3]. Binding takes place via the SRC homology 2 (SH2) domain of the PI 3-kinase regulatory subunit. The resulting complex consisting of INSR, IRS, and PI 3-kinase facilitates interaction of the activated PI 3-kinase catalytic subunit with the phospholipid substrates in the plasma membrane. Generation of PI 3-phosphates in the plasma membrane reemits phospholipid dependent kinases (PDKl and PDK2) which subsequently phosphorylate and activate the serine/threonine kinase Akt (synonym protein... 

These compounds constimte as much as 10% of the phospholipids of brain and muscle. StmcmraUy, the plasmalogens resemble phosphatidylethanolamine but possess an ether link on the sn- carbon instead of the ester link found in acylglycerols. Typically, the alkyl radical is an unsamrated alcohol (Figure 14-10). In some instances, choline, serine, or inositol may be sub-stimted for ethanolamine. 

In addition to its roles in phospholipid and sphingo-sine biosynthesis, serine provides carbons 2 and 8 of purines and the methyl group of thymine. 

A significant functional and structural feature of the plasma membrane Ca pumps is the presence of the calmodulin-binding subdomains A and B near the C-terminus (Fig. 3), that imparts calmodulin sensitivity on the Ca transport and ATP hydrolysis [3]. Adjacent to the calmodulin-binding region are two acidic segments (AC) and the P(S) region containing a serine residue that is susceptible to phosphorylation by cAMP-dependent protein kinase [34]. A unique feature of the plasma membrane Ca pump is its activation by acidic phospholipids that are presumed to... 

Two routes to phospholipid biosynthesis are known in either, the participation of CTP is necessary. The first route involves phosphatidic acid in phosphoglyceride biosynthesis. Phosphatidic acid reacts with CTP to yield CDP-diglyceride which, as a coenzyme, can participate in the transfer of diglyceride onto serine (or inositol) to produce phosphatidylserine (or phosphatidylinositol). Serine phosphatides are liable to decarboxylation (pyridoxal phosphate acting... 

The other phospholipids that you may encounter are based on sphin-gosine. They are derived from serine instead of glycerol but the concept is the same. They have two long, fatty acid chains, a phosphate diester, and a choline-like charged group. This is a neutral lipid. 

Phospholipids are also found which have similar structures (Table 12.6). These include lysophospholipids, which have only one of the two possible positions of glycerol esterified, almost invariably at carbon 1, and the plas-malogens, in which there is a long chain vinyl ether at carbon 1 instead of a fatty acid ester. These compounds also contain an amino alcohol, which may be either serine, ethanolamine or choline. Other rarer phospholipids are the monoacyl monoether, the diether and the phosphono forms. 

Lee, M.-H., and BeU, R.M., 1992, Supplementation ofthe phosphatidyl-L-serine requirement of protein kinase C with nonactivating phospholipids. Biochemistry 31 5176-5182. 

The acylated peptides (Myr)GCX-Bimane 31 a-e (X = G, L, R, T, V), which are found in certain nonreceptor tyrosine kinases and ct-subunits of several heterotrimeric G-proteins, were synthesized in solution using common solution-phase peptide synthesis with X-myristoylglycine as a building block. These model peptides were used for acylation studies with palmitoyl-CoA in phospholipid vesicles at physiological pH. For such uncatalyzed spontaneous reactions only a modest molar excess of acyl donor species (2.5 1) was necessary. Unprotected side chains of threonine or serine are not interfering with this S-acylation (Scheme 14). 

Phospholipids containing phosphatidyl, inositol, lecithin, serine, and ethanolamine (Stevenson 1986) are the second most abundant identifiable form of organic P in the upper layer of the subsurface. These groups contain glycerol, fatty acids, and phosphate (Sims and Pierzjinski 2005). The P in the structure is a diester, which is more susceptible to degradation in soils than monoesters. 

The other phospholipids can be derived from phosphatidates (residue = phosphatidyl). Their phosphate residues are esterified with the hydroxyl group of an amino alcohol choline, ethanolamine, or serine) or with the cyclohexane derivative myo-inositol. Phosphatidylcholine is shown here as an example of this type of compound. When two phosphatidyl residues are linked with one glycerol, the result is cardiolipin (not shown), a phospholipid that is characteristic of the inner mitochondrial membrane. Lysophospholipids arise from phospholipids by enzymatic cleavage of an acyl residue. The hemolytic effect of bee and snake venoms is due in part to this reaction. 

Phosphatidylcholine (lecithin) is the most abundant phospholipid in membranes. Phosphatidylethanolamine (cephalin) has an ethanolamine residue instead of choline, and phosphatidylserine has a serine residue. In phosphatidylinositol, phosphatidate is esterified with the sugarlike cyclic polyalcohol myo-inositol. A doubly phosphorylated derivative of this phospholipid, phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate, is a special component of membranes, which, by enzymatic cleavage, can give rise to two second messengers, diacylglycerol (DAG) and inositol l,4,5trisphosphate (InsPsi see p.386). 

This enzyme catalyzes the reaction of a phospholipid (for example, phosphatidylserine) with ethanolamine to produce phosphatidylethanolamine and the free base (/.c., the amine-containing metabolite serine), thereby preserving the phosphodiester linkage. Ethanolamine can be replaced with serine, choline, monomethyletha-nolamine, and dimethylethanolamine. 

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