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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 283, Issue 29, 20320-20329, July 18, 2008

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Phosphatidylethanolamine Is the Precursor of the Ethanolamine Phosphoglycerol Moiety Bound to Eukaryotic Elongation Factor 1A^*

From the Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, University of Bern, Bühlstrasse 28, Bern 3012, Switzerland

In addition to its conventional role during protein synthesis, eukaryotic elongation factor 1A is involved in other cellular processes. Several regions of interaction between eukaryotic elongation factor 1A and the translational apparatus or the cytoskeleton have been identified, yet the roles of the different post-translational modifications of eukaryotic elongation factor 1A are completely unknown. One amino acid modification, which so far has only been found in eukaryotic elongation factor 1A, consists of ethanolamine-phosphoglycerol attached to two glutamate residues that are conserved between mammals and plants. We now report that ethanolamine-phosphoglycerol is also present in eukaryotic elongation factor 1A of the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma brucei, indicating that this unique protein modification is of ancient origin. In addition, using RNA-mediated gene silencing against enzymes of the Kennedy pathway, we demonstrate that phosphatidylethanolamine is a direct precursor of the ethanolamine-phosphoglycerol moiety. Down-regulation of the expression of ethanolamine kinase and ethanolamine-phosphate cytidylyltransferase results in inhibition of phosphatidylethanolamine synthesis in T. brucei procyclic forms and, concomitantly, in a block in glycosylphosphatidylinositol attachment to procyclins and ethanolamine-phosphoglycerol modification of eukaryotic elongation factor 1A.

Received for publication, March 28, 2008 , and in revised form, May 9, 2008.

^* The work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (Grant 3100A0-116627). The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

The on-line version of this article (available at http://www.jbc.org) contains supplemental Figs. S1 and S2 and Table S1.

¹ To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel.: 41-31-631-4113; Fax: 41-31-631-3737; E-mail: peter.buetikofer{at}mci.unibe.ch.

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				A. Signorell, M. Rauch, J. Jelk, M. A. J. Ferguson, and P. Butikofer Phosphatidylethanolamine in Trypanosoma brucei Is Organized in Two Separate Pools and Is Synthesized Exclusively by the Kennedy Pathway J. Biol. Chem., August 29, 2008; 283(35): 23636 - 23644. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]