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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 283, Issue 6, 3676-3687, February 8, 2008
Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry and Exogenous Heavy Isotope-labeled Lipid Species Provide Detailed Information on Aminophospholipid Acyl Chain Remodeling*
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| ABSTRACT |
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| INTRODUCTION |
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A key problem in resolving these questions has been the lack of suitable methods. Traditionally, phospholipid remodeling has been studied using radiolabeled phospholipid precursors, such as glycerol, choline, or ethanolamine and reversed-phase chromatographic separation of the molecular species (5, 19). More recently, mass spectrometry has been proven to be a convenient tool for such studies (7, 13, 20-22). However, even when labeled precursors are employed, it is virtually impossible to determine the remodeling pathways and kinetics of individual species because numerous molecular species are labeled already during the pulse (7, 20, 23-25). Here, we describe a new approach that provides detailed information on remodeling of aminophospholipids and presumably other glycerophospholipids as well. We synthesized phosphatidylethanolamine (PE)3 and -serine (PS) molecular species with a deuterium-labeled head group, introduced them one at a time into BHK21 or HeLa cells using cyclodextrin-enhanced transfer from donor vesicles, and then monitored their conversion to other species using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) and head group-specific scanning modes (24, 26). Because initially only a single labeled species is present in the cell, remodeling pathways and kinetics could be resolved in unprecedented detail. As it is likely that the exogenous species are remodeled similarly to endogenous ones, at least qualitatively, this new approach should be very useful for the identification the specific phospholipases and acyl transferases involved in remodeling of (amino)phospholipids.
| EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES |
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Cell Culture—Baby hamster kidney (BHK21) cells were grown as previously (31). HeLa-cells were cultured in DMEM containing 10% fetal bovine serum, 100 units/ml penicillin, and 100 µg/ml streptomycin. Mycoplasma contamination was excluded using an ELISA method.
Introduction of Labeled PS and PE Species to Cells—Cholesterol, 1-palmitoyl-2-oleyl-phosphatidylcholine (POPC), a labeled PE or PS species, and di-22:0 phosphatidylcholine (5:4: 1:0.1, mol/mol) were mixed in chloroform, and the solvent was evaporated under a nitrogen stream followed by high vacuum for 1 h. 1 ml of PBS was added, and the sample was probesonicated for 3 x 2 min with 30-s intervals. The sample was then centrifuged for 5 min at 3000 x g to pellet any undispersed lipid and probe particles, and the small unilamellar vesicles (SUVs) in supernatant were used as the donors in cell labeling.
Cells grown to
80% confluency on 6-cm dishes were washed twice with DMEM, SUV's (1 µmol lipid), and methyl-β-cyclodextrin (m-β-CD) (8 mM) in 2 ml of DMEM were added, and the cells were incubated for 1 h at 37 °C. After washing three times with DMEM, the cells were chased in DMEM with or without 10% fetal calf serum up to 24 h, washed with phosphate-buffered saline, scraped into 0.25 M sucrose, and moved to silane-treated screw cap tubes. The lipids were then extracted according to Folch et al. (32), except that the solvent contained 0.1 M HCl. For quantification of the lipid species by mass spectrometry, a mixture of internal standards was added at the one-phase stage of extraction (33). After evaporation of the solvents, the lipids were redissolved in chloroform/methanol (1:2, v/v) and stored at -20 °C.
Mass Spectrometry and Data Analysis—After addition of aqueous NH3 (4%), the sample was infused (6 µl/min) into a Micromass Quattro Micro triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer operated as previously (33). The D4-labeled and unlabeled PE species were selectively detected using constant neutral-loss (NL) scanning of 145 and 141, respectively, in the positive ion mode (34). The D3-labeled and unlabeled PS species were detected using NL of 90 and 87, respectively, in the negative ion mode. The peaks were identified and quantified using the recently developed LIMSA software (35). Quantification was carried out using three internal standards for both PE and PS (36). For identification of the acyl chain sn-positions of the endogenous species, as well as the remodeling products derived from the exogenous species, PE and PS classes were isolated by normal phase HPLC (28), and the individual species were then subjected to collisionally activated dissociation (CAD) and product ion analysis. Albeit some previous and ESI-MS studies have indicated that it is possible to identify the sn-positions of the acyl chain of phospholipids by collisional fragmentation and product ion scanning (37-39), controversial data exist (39, 40). Therefore, we carried out detailed studies with several synthetic standards to establish the acyl chain and sn-position-dependent fragmentation patterns of PE and PS. We then isolated the PE and PS classes from BHK21 cells using normal phase HPLC (28) and determined the sn position of the individual species based on the data obtained with standards as detailed in Supplemental Note S1.
Other Determinations—Cholesterol (41) and protein (42) were determined as described previously.
| RESULTS |
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The amount of labeled PE or PS taken up by the cells varied from 0.3 to 4.5 nmol/dish, depending on the molecular species. This corresponds to
0.5-5 mol% of total cellular phospholipid. The degree of incorporation diminished nearly exponentially with lipid hydrophobicity (data not shown). This is characteristic for CD-mediated monomeric lipid transfer (44), and therefore the labeled PE and PS species were most probably incorporated into cells (probably the exoplasmic leaflet of the plasma membrane) as lipid monomers rather than as components of adhering donor vesicles cf (45). Supporting this conclusion, only negligible amounts of the donor vesicle marker 22:0/22:0-PC, which is too hydrophobic to be efficiently transferred by cyclodextrins, was detected in cells (not shown).
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Remodeling of Exogenous Phosphatidylethanolamine Species—To study how the structure and the sn position of the acyl chains affects the metabolism of PE, we synthesized a variety of D4-labeled PE species, introduced them into BHK21 cells and then determined their remodeling pathways and kinetics using ESI-MS as detailed under "Experimental Procedures." Experiments carried out with 20 different exogenous PE species showed that remodeling of atypical (i.e. endogenously absent or minor) PE species was rapid and extensive, whereas those similar or identical to major endogenous ones were remodeled to a lesser degree (Figs. 1, 2 and 3).
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Based on the results shown in Figs. 1 and 2, as well as those obtained for 14 other PE species (not shown), exogenous PE species could be grouped in four main categories according to the kinetics and/or the order of sn1 versus sn2 remodeling (Fig. 3, A-D). 1) PE species containing a saturated sn2 chain were remodeled very rapidly (Fig. 3A) and initially always at the sn2 position by substituting the saturated chain (mainly) for 18:1. The unsaturated/saturated species (18:1/14:0, 18:1/16:0, and 18:1/18:0) were not remodeled further (not shown), but the sn1 chain of the saturated/saturated species (14:0/14:0, 16:0/16:0, 14:0/18:0, and 18:0/14:0) was subsequently exchanged for 18:1 (see Figs. 1A and 2A). 2) Diunsaturated PE species differed greatly from each other in terms of remodeling pathways and kinetics (Fig. 3B). The polyunsaturated species (18:2/18:2, 18:3/18:3, and 20:4/20:4) were remodeled rapidly at the sn1 position and subsequently at sn2 one (see Figs. 1C and 2C). 14:1/14:1-PE was also rapidly remodeled, but at both sn positions in parallel (Figs. 1B and 2B). Remodeling of 16:1/16:1-PE was analogous to that of 14:1/14:1-PE, albeit slower (Fig. 3B), while 18:1/18:1-PE was hardly remodeled (Figs. 1F and 2F), probably because it is the major endogenous PE species in BHK21 cells. 3) Saturated/polyunsaturated PE species (14:0/20:4, 16:0/20:4, 18:0/20:4, and 18:0/22:6) were remodeled quite rapidly (Fig. 3C) and at both sn-positions in parallel by replacing either of the acyl chains with oleate (see Figs. 1D and 2D). The initial remodeling products were then converted to 18:1/18:1 via exchange of the remaining original sn 1 or sn2 acyl chain. 4) Saturated/monounsaturated PE species (14:0/18:1, 16:0/18:1, and 18:0/18:1) were remodeled quite slowly (Fig. 3D) and exclusively at sn1 position producing mainly 18:1/18:1 (see Figs. 1E and 2E).
Notably, the turnover of the total pool of labeled PE was quite similar for all exogenous species studied (not shown), indicating that selective precursor degradation, i.e. conversion to water soluble products, does not significantly contribute to the observed differences in the remodeling kinetics. Remodeling of several PE species was also studied in HeLa cells with analogous results (Supplemental Fig. S2).
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Based on experiments with 19 different labeled PS species we could conclude that, similarly to PE, atypical (i.e. endogenously absent) PS species were rapidly remodeled to species corresponding to the major endogenous ones i.e. mainly 18:0/18:1 or 18:1/18:1, whereas the PS species similar or identical to the endogenous ones were remodeled much less and more slowly (Figs. 3 and 4). Notably, however, the remodeling kinetics and pathways of PS species often differed markedly from those found for corresponding PE species (see below). 1) PS species containing a saturated sn2 chain were initially remodeled at the sn2 position, but in contrast to the corresponding PEs, only at a moderate rate (Fig. 3E). The saturated/saturated PS species (14:0/14:0, 16:0/16:0, 14:0/18:0) were converted mainly to 14:0/18:1, 16:0/18:1, and 14:0/18:1, respectively (see Fig. 4A), which were remodeled further via exchange of the sn1 chain for 18:0 > 18:1 > 16:0. Unlike these species, 18:0/14:0-PS was directly converted to 18:0/18:1 and not remodeled further (not shown). Remodeling of the monounsaturated/saturated PS species (18:1/14:0, 18:1/16:0, and 18:1/18:0) was slower than that of the disaturated ones (Fig. 3E), and they were initially converted to 18:1/18:1. However, unlike the corresponding PE species, which were not further remodeled, the sn1 chain of 18:1/18:1-PS was eventually exchanged for stearate to yield 18:0/18:1, the major endogenous PS species. 2) Unsaturated/unsaturated PS species were generally remodeled very rapidly (Fig. 3F), first at the sn1 and subsequently at sn2-position eventually yielding a molecular species profile resembling that of endogenous PS (see Fig. 4, B and C). In contrast to the corresponding PE, which was hardly remodeled, exogenous 18:1/18:1-PS was converted to 18:0/18:1 (Fig. 4F). 3) Saturated/polyunsaturated PS species. Compared with the corresponding PEs, remodeling of 16:0/20: 4-, 18:0/20:4- and 18:0/22:6-PS species was clearly slower (Fig. 3F). 16:0/20:4-PS was remodeled at both sn positions in parallel (not shown) like the corresponding PE species. On the other hand, 18:0/20:4- and 18:0/22:6-PS were remodeled exclusively at sn2 yielding 18:0/18:1 (Fig. 4D), which differs significantly from the corresponding PE species (see Fig. 1D). 4) Saturated/monounsaturated PS species. As the corresponding PE, 16:0/18:1-PS was remodeled quite slowly (Fig. 3H) and exclusively at sn1 position to yield mainly 18:1/18:1. However, significant amounts of 18:0/18:1 was also formed, which was not the case with PE. Also diverging from the corresponding PE, remodeling of exogenous 18:0/18:1-PS was almost non-existent (Fig. 4E), probably because it is the main endogenous PS species in BHK21 cells.
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In summary, because both the remodeling pathways and kinetics of most PS species differed significantly from those of corresponding PEs, the remodeling PLAs and acylating enzymes acting on these two aminophospholipids in BHK21 cells are likely to be different.
Effect of PLA Inhibitors on Remodeling of PE—The data presented above demonstrate that both PLA1 and PLA2 activities are involved in remodeling of exogenous PE. Whereas little is known of the PLA1s potentially involved in remodeling of phospholipids, several types of PLA2s have been proposed to participate in this process. Particularly the Group VIA Ca2+-independent phospholipase iPLA2β has been frequently implicated (49), albeit contradictory data have been obtained with some cell types (50). Also certain Group IV cytosolic phospholipases (cPLAs) may participate in phospholipid remodeling (51, 52).
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, respectively, but not cPLA2s (54). Fig. 5A displays a spectrum for cells labeled with 14:1/14: 1-PE and then chased for 3 h in the absence of inhibitors. As can be seen, the precursor has virtually disappeared and significant amounts of primary as well as secondary remodeling products (m/z region indicated by "sn1 + sn2") were present. When MAFP (25 µM) was present, only a single remodeling product, i.e. 18:1/14:1-PE could be observed (Fig. 5B). In addition R-BEL markedly inhibited the remodeling, (Fig. 5C), whereas S-BEL had a rather weak effect (Fig. 5D). We next studied the effect of the inhibitors on remodeling of 14:0/18:0-PE and 16:0/20:4-PE. Rather than showing multiple spectra for each, the fraction of the precursor of the total labeled lipids versus time in the absence and presence of inhibitors is plotted in Fig. 6. In the case of 14:0/18:0-PE, neither R- nor S-BEL had any significant effect, whereas MAFP inhibited modestly (Fig. 6B). Interestingly, none of the inhibitors had any effect on remodeling of 16:0/20:4-PE (Fig. 6C).
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Effect of PLA Inhibitors on Remodeling of PS—Fig. 5F shows a spectrum for cells labeled with 14:1/14:1-PS and then chased for 3 h in the absence of inhibitors. Because this PS species is rapidly decarboxylated (see Figs. 3F and 6D), we studied the effect of the inhibitors in the presence of hydroxylamine, which blocks PS decarboxylase. In the absence of PLA inhibitors the precursor has nearly disappeared, and significant amounts of primary as well as secondary remodeling products are present after the 3-h chase. MAFP markedly inhibited the formation of secondary remodeling products (Fig. 5G), as observed for the corresponding PE species. However, in marked contrast to corresponding PE, both R-BEL and S-BEL strongly inhibited the remodeling of 14:1/14: 1-PS with virtually identical efficiency (Figs. 5, H and I, and 6D). Unlike 14:1/14:1-PS, MAFP had no effect on remodeling of 14:0/18:0-PS, whereas it was nearly eliminated by S-BEL. R-BEL had only a minor effect (Fig. 6E). None of the PLA2 inhibitors affected remodeling of 16:0/20:4-PS (Fig. 6F) as was observed for the corresponding PE. Collectively, these data suggest that remodeling of exogenous PS involves at least three different of PLA2s: one which is strongly inhibited with MAFP and by R- and S-BEL; another which is strongly inhibited by S-BEL, but not with R-BEL and MAFP, and a third one which is not inhibited by any of the inhibitors. In conclusion, the inhibitor data strongly support the pathway data indicating that several different PLAs, capable of distinguishing both the lipid head group as well as the acyl chains, participate in remodeling of aminophospholipids in BHK21 cells.
Involvement of Acyl-CoA-dependent and -independent Acyltransferases in Remodeling of Exogenous PE and PS Species—To investigate if multiple types of acylating enzymes are involved in remodeling of exogenous PE and PS species, we studied the effect of Triacsin C, a potent inhibitor of long chain acyl-CoA synthase (55). As shown in Fig. 6A, Triacsin C had no notable effect in the kinetics of remodeling of 14:1/14:1-PE, but markedly increased species with 18:0 and 16:0 at the sn1 position (Fig. 5E). Such species were nearly absent in the control cells (Fig. 5A). Similar results were obtained for 14:0/14:0- and 16:0/20:4-PE, i.e. Triacsin C had no significant effect on the remodeling rate (Fig. 6, B and C), but again a marked increase of remodeling products with 18:0 in the sn1 position was observed (not shown). Whereas the reason for this phenomenon is not clear, these results show that acyl-CoA-dependent acyl transferases/transacylases are not likely to be required for remodeling of PE.
In contrast to PE, remodeling of all PS species studied was markedly inhibited by Triacsin C (Fig. 6, D-F). 14:1/14:1 PS was remodeled to 18:0/14:1, 18:1/14:1, and 16:0/14:1 indicating that remodeling of the sn2, but not the sn1 position of PS was inhibited (Fig. 5J). Parallel results were obtained for several other PS species studied (not shown). Accordingly, acyl-CoA-dependent acyltransferases or transacylases are implicated in sn2 remodeling of PS, whereas sn1 remodeling appears to be acyl-CoA-independent.
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Accumulation of Remodeling Products Corresponding to the Major Endogenous PE and PS Species Is Due to Their Slow Hydrolysis Rather Than Acyl Chain Recycling—In principle, the accumulation of 18:1/18:1-PE and 18:0/18:1-PS as the main end products of remodeling of exogenous PE and PS species, respectively, could be due to 1) their slow hydrolysis by remodeling PLAs or 2) rapid hydrolysis followed by rapid reacylation with identical fatty acids. To choose between these options, we synthesized 16:0/13C-18:1-D4PE, i.e. a species in which both the head group and the sn2 acyl chain is labeled, and then studied its metabolism in BHK21 cells. As shown in Fig. 7A, this doubly labeled PE was metabolized slowly to either 18:1/13C-18:1-D4PE or 16:0/18:1-D4PE via exchange of the sn 1 or sn2 chain, respectively. At later chase times, some 18:1/18:1-D4PE appeared indicating that both original fatty acids had been replaced (Fig. 7A). The 18:1/13C-18:1, 16:0/18:1 and 18:1/18:1 species increased at comparable rates, indicating that both acyl chains turn over with similar kinetics. Notably, this turnover was much slower that that of atypical PE species (see Figs. 1, 2 and 3), because the precursor still represented >40% of the total D4-labeled PE after 24h chase (Fig. 7A). Whereas we cannot exclude the possibility that the unlabeled sn1-palmitate would be recycled, i.e. hydrolyzed and reacylated with an identical fatty acid, this seems improbable because only a very minor fraction of exogenous 18:1/13C -18:1-D4PE was converted to 16:0/18:1 (see Fig. 7B); i.e. there is no strong tendency to add a 16:0 chain to the sn1 position of PE.
We also studied the metabolism of doubly labeled 18:1/13C-18:1-D4PE with very similar results. After 24 h, only
30% of the sn2-chain had turned over, as indicated by conversion of the precursor to 18:1/18:1-D4-PE (Fig. 7B). Analogous experiments carried out with 16:0/13C-18:1-D3PS and 18:1/13C-18:1-D3PS gave parallel results (data not shown).
In conclusion, these results strongly support the notion that remodeling PLA1s and PLA2s display a low activity toward major endogenous PE and PS species, such as 16:0/18:1 and 18:1/18:1, meaning that the kinetics remodeling are determined by the substrate specificity of those PLAs. On the other hand, the specificities of acyl transferases/transacylases are crucial as they, together with the availability of different fatty acids, strongly influence the spectrum of remodeling products eventually formed.
Remodeling of Endogenously Synthesized PE Species—When BHK21 cells were briefly labeled with D4-ethanolamine, which incorporates to PE via the CDP-ethanolamine pathway, the profile of newly synthesized D4-PE species was initially quite different from that of pre-existing (unlabeled) PE (Supplemental Fig. S3). However, when the cells were chased in the presence of unlabeled ethanolamine, the labeled PE species were rapidly remodeled to yield a molecular species profile similar to that of unlabeled PE. After a 24-h chase, labeled PE consisted mainly of 18:1/18:1 and few other species. These data resemble those obtained for many exogenous species, thus indicating that the latter are remodeling similarly to the endogenous ones. However, it is not possible to compare the remodeling of exogenous and endogenous species in detail because, as mentioned under the Introduction, the remodeling pathways or kinetics of individual molecular species synthesized endogenously cannot be resolved due to simultaneous labeling of multiple species.
Recycling of Labeled Head Group Does Not Bias the Remodeling Data—The fact that very different profiles were obtained for different exogenous PE and PS species makes it unlikely that recycling of labeled head group would significantly contribute to the profiles of labeled species and would thus bias interpretation of the data. Would the labeled species derive mainly from head group recycling rather than acyl chain remodeling, identical profiles should be obtained for all exogenous species (due to use of the same endogenous DG precursor pool), which clearly was not the case. Nevertheless, to fully exclude this, we studied metabolism of 14:1/14:1-D4PE in the presence of unlabeled ethanolamine (1.6 mM), which should effectively dilute out the labeled ethanolamine eventually released from the exogenous species and thus prevent its reincorporation to PE. As shown in Supplemental Fig. S4, the profile of labeled PE species was essentially identical to the control lacking ethanolamine, thus confirming that recycling of labeled ethanolamine does not bias the interpretation of the remodeling data. Such studies were not carried out with PS, because serine is an intrinsic component of the cell culture medium used.
| DISCUSSION |
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The accumulation of the 18:1/18:1-PE and 18:0/18:1-PS species as the main remodeling end products in BHK21 cells appears to be mainly due to: 1) their slow hydrolysis by remodeling PLAs and 2) preferential acylation of the lysoPE with oleate and lysoPS with oleate or stearate (Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7). Thus PLAs, by catalyzing the committed step, set the pace of remodeling of exogenous (and most probably endogenous) PE and PS species. However, the specificity of the acylating enzymes and the composition of the FA donor pools play a crucial role in determining the steady state profile of molecular species in the cells.
Most exogenous PE and PS species were remodeled both at sn1 and sn2 positions in agreement with earlier studies (5, 56) and therefore both PLA1 and PLA2 activities must be involved. A novel finding is that both the kinetics and the sequence of the sn1 versus sn2 remodeling are very sensitive to the phospholipid acyl chain and head group structure. The PLA1s acting on PE seemingly prefer saturated and unsaturated chains, except for 18:1, which is not effectively cleaved (Figs. 1, 2 and 3). In contrast, the PLA1s acting on PS seem to have a low affinity for saturated chains, particularly 18:0, as indicated by slow remodeling of the sn1-saturated PS species (Figs. 3 and 4). On the other hand, the PLA2s acting on PE seem to avidly cleave saturated chains, but poorly 18:1, while the PLA2s acting on PS seem to cleave preferentially short monounsaturated and polyunsaturated chains (Figs. 3 and 4).
The fact that structurally very similar aminophospholipid species, including positional isomers, were often remodeled with very different kinetics (see Fig. 3) strongly suggests that the susceptibility for remodeling is largely determined by the substrate specificities of the PLAs, rather than by e.g. differences in intracellular trafficking or partitioning between membrane domains.
While little is known of the PLA1s potentially involved in remodeling of phospholipids, several types of PLA2s, particularly members of the iPLA2 and cPLA2 families, have been implicated in this process (49, 51, 52), albeit most studies have concentrated on PC. The involvement of both iPLAs and cPLAs in aminophospholipid remodeling is supported by the present data obtained with the PLA2 inhibitors MAFP, R-BEL, and S-BEL. However, these data imply that also other activities are involved. The observed differences in the effects of these inhibitors on remodeling of six different PE and PS species strongly support the involvement of multiple selective PLA2s, capable of distinguishing both the phospholipid acyl chains and head group, in aminophospholipid remodeling. However, more specific tools, such as RNA interference or other protein knock-down methods are needed to establish the identity of the specific proteins involved.
Triacsin C, an inhibitor of acyl-CoA synthase, did not inhibit remodeling of any PE species studied and thus reacylation of both sn positions of PE probably occurs by transacylation. Triacsin C also did not inhibit reacylation of the sn1 position of PS, thus again implicating CoA-independent transacylases. However, it markedly inhibited sn2 reacylation of PS, which is thus probably mediated by acyl-CoA-dependent acyltransferases/transacylases. CoA-dependent and -independent acylation of lyso-PS has been observed in vitro (57, 58). Because the sn1 position of PS was preferentially reacylated with 18:0 as found previously in vitro (59), whereas that of PE was mainly reacylated with 18:1 or 16:1, it is likely that different transacylases mediate the sn1 acylation of PS versus PE. This is consistent with previous in vitro data (6, 60). In summary, at least three different enzyme activities appear to catalyze reacylation of aminophospholipids in BHK21 cells.
Beside the specificity of PLAs and acylating enzymes the pools of free/esterified fatty obviously also play an important role in determining the molecular species eventually formed, as shown by the remarkable changes in the phospholipid species profiles obtained by feeding different fatty acids to cells (61). Phospholipases and acyl transferases/transacylases putatively involved in phospholipid remodeling have been localized to the endoplasmic reticulum, the Golgi, mitochondria, nucleus, and peroxisomes (9, 10, 18, 51, 52, 62-65). It is an intriguing possibility that organelles harbor different sets of remodeling enzymes, which could contribute to their specific phospholipid molecular species profiles. Evidence for such organelle-specific remodeling has been obtained for nuclear phosphatidylcholine in mammalian cells (66) and for yeast phospholipids in general (67). Thus the observed differences in remodeling of aminophospholipid molecular species might, at least in part, result from their different intracellular trafficking and distribution (68). Conversely, the remodeling process might contribute to interorganelle trafficking of phospholipids, since the rather hydrophilic lysolipid formed upon a PLA reaction, unless immediately reacylated, should be able to rapidly diffuse to another organelle wherein it might be reacylated to reform an intact phospholipid molecule.
Are exogenous aminophospholipids remodeled similarly to those synthesized endogenously? It seems very likely that their remodeling is qualitatively similar to that of the endogenous ones, because studies with labeled ethanolamine showed that the newly formed species were, like the exogenous ones, extensively remodeled eventually yielding a species pattern identical to the unlabeled ones (Supplemental Fig. S3). However, the kinetics of remodeling are likely to differ somewhat, because it takes time before the exogenous species fully mixes with the endogenous ones, despite the fact that intracellular trafficking of lipids is thought to be a relatively rapid process (69).
Albeit not studied here, it is very likely the exogenous species can be used to study remodeling of other glycerolipids as well. This, however, may require that the rate of trans-bilayer movement of the exogenous lipid to be studied is significant so that it will be readily accessible for the remodeling enzymes. While PS and PE are known to be rapidly translocated to the inner leaflet of the plasma membrane of all mammalian cells studied, flipping of e.g. PC seems to depend on the cell type (70).
Many crucial questions regarding glycerophospholipid acyl chain remodeling remain to be unanswered. First of all, it will be essential to identify the particular phospholipases and acyl transferases/transacylases involved in aminophospholipid remodeling. RNA interference (RNAi) or cells derived from knock-out animals should be very useful here. However, major efforts are required due to a large number of potential remodeling enzymes, off-target effects, and compensatory phenomena (71). Second, once the enzymes involved in remodeling have been identified, studies with model membranes with systematically varied compositions are needed to define the factors responsible for the high specificity of the remodeling process. Third, the subcellular site(s) of phospholipid remodeling needs to be established, and this probably requires in vitro studies with purified organelles. Fourth, remodeling of other glycerophospholipids such as PC, PI, and PA needs to be studied in various cell types to complete the picture. Yet, it is important to establish the relationship between the phospholipases involved in remodeling and those maintaining phospholipid class homeostasis. The approach described here should be very useful when studying many of these issues.
| FOOTNOTES |
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The on-line version of this article (available at http://www.jbc.org) contains supplemental Figs. S1-S4 and supplemental Note S1. ![]()
1 These authors contributed equally to this work. ![]()
2 To whom correspondence should be addressed: Institute of Biomedicine, Dept. of Biochemistry, PL 63, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland. Tel.: 358-9-19125413; Fax: 358-9-19125444; E-mail: martin.hermansson{at}helsinki.fi.
3 The abbreviations used are: PE, phosphatidylethanolamine; BEL, bromoenol lactone; CD, cyclodextrin; ESI-MS, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry; MAFP, methyl arachidonyl fluorophosphonate; PC, phosphatidylcholine; PI, phosphatidylinositol; PS, phosphatidylserine; PLA, phospholipase A; SUV, small unilamellar vesicle; DMEM, Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium; POPC, 1-palmitoyl-2-oleyl-phosphatidylcholine. ![]()
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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