All organisms consist of cells that are enclosed by a cell membrane containing bipolar lipids and proteins. Glycerophospholipids are important not only as structural and functional components of cellular membrane but also as precursors of various lipid mediators. Polyunsaturated fatty acids comprising arachidonic acid or eicosapentaenoic acid are located at
sn
-2 position, but not at
sn
-1 position of glycerophospholipids in an asymmetrical manner. In addition to the asymmetry, the membrane diversity is important for membrane fluidity and curvature. To explain the asymmetrical distribution of fatty acids, the rapid turnover of
sn
-2 position was proposed in 1958 by Lands [Lands WE (1958) Metabolism of glycerolipides: A comparison of lecithin and triglyceride synthesis.
J Biol Chem
231:883–888]. However, the molecular mechanisms and biological significance of the asymmetry remained unknown. Here, we describe a putative enzyme superfamily consisting mainly of three gene families, which catalyzes the transfer of acyl-CoAs to lysophospholipids to produce different classes of phospholipids. Among them, we characterized three important enzymes with different substrate specificities and tissue distributions; one, termed lysophosphatidylcholine acyltransferase-3 (a mammalian homologue of
Drosophila nessy
critical for embryogenesis), prefers arachidonoyl-CoA, and the other two enzymes incorporate oleoyl-CoAs to lysophosphatidylethanolamine and lysophosphatidylserine. Thus, we propose that the membrane diversity is produced by the concerted and overlapped reactions with multiple enzymes that recognize both the polar head group of glycerophospholipids and various acyl-CoAs. Our findings constitute a critical milestone for our understanding about how membrane diversity and asymmetry are established and their biological significance.
所有生物体都由细胞组成,这些细胞被包含双极脂质和蛋白质的细胞膜所包围。甘油磷脂不仅作为细胞膜的结构和功能组成部分,还是各种脂质介质的前体。由花生四烯酸或二十碳五烯酸组成的多不饱和脂肪酸位于甘油磷脂的不对称的sn-2位置,而不是sn-1位置。除了不对称性外,膜的多样性对于膜的流动性和曲率也很重要。为了解释脂肪酸的不对称分布,1958年Lands提出了sn-2位置的快速周转。然而,不对称性的分子机制和生物学意义仍然未知。在这里,我们描述了一个潜在的酶超家族,主要由三个基因家族组成,它们催化酰基辅酶A转移至溶血磷脂,以产生不同类别的磷脂。其中,我们表征了三种具有不同底物特异性和组织分布的重要酶;一种被称为溶血磷脂酰转移酶-3(果蝇nessy的哺乳动物同源物,对胚胎发育至关重要),更喜欢花生四烯酰辅酶A,而另外两种酶则将油酰辅酶A并入到溶血磷脂酰乙醇胺和溶血磷脂酰丝氨酸中。因此,我们提出,膜的多样性是由多个酶的协同和重叠反应产生的,这些酶识别甘油磷脂的极性头基和各种酰基辅酶A。我们的发现对于我们理解膜的多样性和不对称性的建立及其生物学意义构成了一个关键的里程碑。