Localization of phospholipid biosynthetic enzyme activities in cell-free fractions derived from Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides

The phospholipid biosynthetic enzyme activities: CDP-diglyceride synthetase, phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthetase, PGP phosphatase, phosphatidylserine (PS) synthase, PS decarboxylase, and S-adenosyl-L-methionine:phosphatidylethanolamine (AdoMet:PE) N-methyltransferase were detected in crude cell-free extracts of Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides. CDP-diglyceride synthetase and phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthetase co-enriched with penicillin-binding protein activity, a known cytoplasmic membrane marker, throughout fractionation of cell-free extracts of both chemoheterotrophically and photoheterotrophically grown cells. PS decarboxylase also co-enriched with the cytoplasmic membranes in fractions derived from chemoheterotrophically and photoheterotrophically grown cells, but substantially greater quantities of PS decarboxylase activity was found in the chromatophores derived from photoheterotrophically grown cells than could be accounted for by cytoplasmic membrane contamination of this sample. PS synthase (60% of the recovered activity) and S-adenosyl-L-methionine:phosphatidylethanolamine N-methyltransferase (90% of the recovered activity) were found in the supernatant fraction after high speed centrifugation of crude cell lysates, suggesting that these enzyme activities were not tightly membrane associated. The localization of phospholipid biosynthetic enzyme activity in R. sphaeroides is discussed in terms of the biosynthesis of the photosynthetic membranes.     

An improved preparation of phosphatidylglycerophosphate

Phosphatidylglycerophosphate is not normally accumulated in the reaction mixture. It was found that octyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside greatly stimulated the synthesis and inhibited the degradation of phosphatidylglycerophosphate. The phenomenon could be used for the preparation of phosphatidylglycerophosphate from CDPdiacylglycerol and the sn-glycero-3-phosphate with the crude membrane enzyme preparation. The optimal concentration of octyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside to be used for such a purpose was 24.5 mM.     

The enzymes of phospholipid synthesis in Clostridium butyricum

We have examined extracts of Clostridium butyricum for several enzymes of phospholipid synthesis. Membrane particles were shown to catalyze the formation of CDP-diglyceride from [3H]CTP and phosphatidic acid. The reaction was dependent on Mg2+ and stimulated by monovalent cations. CDP-diglyceride formed in vitro was found to be a substrate for both phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthetase and phosphatidylserine synthetase. The formation of phosphatidylglycerophosphate from added CDP-diglyceride and [U-14C]sn-glycerol-3-phosphate was dependent on Mg2+ and Triton X-100. The dephosphorylation of endogenously-generated phosphatidylglycerophosphate to yield phosphatidylglycerol was observed to be pH-dependent. The formation of phosphatidylserine from CDP-diglyceride and L-[3-14C]serine was stimulated by Mg2+ and Triton X-100. dCDP-diglyceride was a suitable substrate for both phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthetase and phosphatidylserine synthetase. Phosphatidylserine decarboxylase activity was barely detectable in membrane particles from C. butyricum. The addition of E. coli membrane particles provided efficient phosphatidylserine decarboxylase activity in this system. Although plasmalogens are the principal lipids of C. butyricum, none of the products of phospholipid synthesis formed in vitro contained measurable amounts of plasmalogens. The subcellular distribution of both phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthetase and phosphatidylserine synthetase in C. butyricum was also studied. Both were found to be membrane-associated.     

Affinity of phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthetase for the liponucleotides in Bacillus subtilis

Abstract In Bacillus subtilis , the synthesis of phosphatidylglycerol, the more reactive phospholipid, was investigated in vitro. The phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthetase was exclusively localized in the membrane fraction. Three phospholipids (phosphatidylglycerophosphate, phosphatidylglycerol and diphosphatidylglycerol) were synthesized by this fraction. Exogenous CDP-diglyceride and dCDP-diglyceride were substrates with the same K _m (0.11 mM). In coupled system with CDP-diglyceride synthetase, endogenous dCDP-diglyceride was a less effective substrate than CDP-diglyceride.     

Coordinate increases in the enzyme activities responsible for phosphatidylglycerol synthesis and CTP:cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferase activity in developing rat lung

The enzymes responsible for the biosynthesis of phosphatidylglycerol, CTP:phosphatidate cytidylyltransferase, CDP-diacylglycerol: glycerophosphate phosphatidyltransferase and phosphatidylglycerophosphate phosphatase demonstrated a coordinate increase in activity in fetal rat lung at term when the demand for pulmonary surfactant increases. The activity of CTP:cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferase, the enzyme responsible for CDP-choline production also increased in the perinatal period. The activity of cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferase in fetal and neonatal cytosol was stimulated by the addition of phosphatidylglycerol but no effect was noted with cytosol from adult lung. These results are consistent with the suggestion that the activity of cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferase, a potential rate-determining enzyme in pulmonary phosphatidylcholine synthesis, may be regulated in the perinatal period both through an activation by phosphatidylglycerol and by an increase in total enzyme units.     

Triton solubilization of proteins from pig liver mitochondrial membranes

Various aspects of membrane solubilization by the Triton X-series of nonionic detergents were examined in pig liver mitochondrial membranes. Binding of Triton X-100 to nonsolubilized membranes was saturable with increased concentrations of the detergent. Maximum binding occurred at concentrations exceeding 0.5% Triton X-100 (w/v). Solubilization of both protein and phospholipid increased with increasing Triton X-100 to a plateau which was dependent on the initial membrane protein concentration used. At low detergent concentrations (less than 0.087% Triton X-100, w/v), proteins were preferentially solubilized over phospholipids. At higher Triton X-100 concentrations the opposite was true. Using the well-defined Triton X-series of detergents, the optimal hydrophile-lipophile balance number (HLB) for solubilization of phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthase (EC 2.7.8.5) was 13.5, corresponding to Triton X-100. Activity was solubilized optimally at detergent concentrations between 0.1 and 0.2% (w/v). The optimal protein-to-detergent ratio for solubilization was 3 mg protein/mg Triton X-100. Solubilization of phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthase was generally better at low ionic strength, though total protein solubilization increased at high ionic strength. Solubilization was also dependent on pH. Significantly higher protein solubilization was observed at high pH (i.e., 8.5), as was phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthase solubilization. The manipulation of these variables in improving the recovery and specificity of membrane protein solubilization by detergents was examined.     

Characterization and localization of phosphatidylglycerophosphate and phosphatidylserine synthases in Rhodobacter sphaeroides

Catalytic properties and membrane associations of the phosphatidylglycerophosphate (PGP) and phosphatidylserine (PS) synthases of Rhodobacter sphaeroides were examined to further characterize sites of phospholipid biosynthesis. In preparations of cytoplasmic membrane (CM) enriched in these activities, apparent K _m values of PGP synthase were 90 M for sn-glycerol-3-phosphate and 60 M for CDP-diacylglycerol; the apparent K _m of PS synthase for l-serine was near 165 M. Both enzymes required Triton X-100 with optimal PS synthase activity at a detergent/CDP-diacylglycerol (mol/mol) ratio of 7.5:1.0, while for optimal PGP synthase, a range of 10–50:1.0 was observed. Unlike the enzyme in Escherichia coli and several other Gram-negative bacteria, the PS synthase activity had a specific requirement for magnesium and was tightly associated with membranes rather than ribosomes in crude cell extracts. Sedimentation studies suggested that the PGP synthase ws distributed uniformly over the CM in both chemoheterotrophically and photoheterotrophically grown cells, while the PS synthase was confined mainly to a vesicular CM fraction. Solubilized PGP synthase activity migrated as a single band with a pI value near 5.5 in a chromatofocusing column and 5.8 on isoelectric focusing; in the latter procedure, the pI was shifted to 5.3 in the presence of CDP-diacylglycerol. The PGP synthase activity gave rise to a single polypeptide band in lithium dodecyl sulfatepolyacrylamide gel electrophoresis at 4°C.Abbreviations CM cytoplasmic membrane - ICM intracytoplasmic photosynthetic membrane - OM outer membrane - PGP phosphatidylglycerophosphate - PS phosphatidylserine - TLC thin-layer chromatography Supported in part by a Fellowship Awards from the Charles and Johanna Busch Memorial Fund Award to the Rutgers Bureau of Biological Research     

Regulation of the balanced synthesis of membrane phospholipids. Experimental test of models for regulation in Escherichia coli

In Escherichia coli, highly effective regulation controls the balanced synthesis of membrane phospholipids, important for optimal growth. Regulation is such that normally about 70% of a common pool of cytosine liponucleotide precursor is utilized by phosphatidylserine synthase and eventually converted to phosphatidylethanolamine, while about 30% is utilized by the competing enzyme phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthase and converted to phosphatidylglycerol (25%) plus cardiolipin (5%). Although the ratio of phosphatidylglycerol to cardiolipin may vary with conditions of growth, the sum of these two lipids remains relatively constant at about 30% of the total. Alternative models, postulating coordinate regulation of the two competing enzymes, or independent feedback regulation are proposed. These models were tested in experiments in which phosphatidylglycerol was continuously removed from growing cells treated with arbutin (4-hydroxyphenyl-O-beta-D-glucoside), causing its conversion to arbutinphosphoglycerol (Bohin, J.-P., and Kennedy, E.P. (1984) J. Biol. Chem. 259, 8388-8393.) The synthesis of phosphatidylglycerol was increased by a factor of 7 in cells treated with arbutin, with only small changes in phospholipid composition and with no significant change in the level of phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthase. The synthesis of phosphatidylethanolamine was not significantly increased, decisively eliminating the model that requires coordinate regulation of phosphatidylserine synthase and phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthase, and supporting the model of independent feedback inhibition, sensitive to very small changes in composition of cellular phospholipids.     

Suppression of the lethal effect of acidic-phospholipid deficiency by defective formation of the major outer membrane lipoprotein in Escherichia coli.

The Escherichia coli pgsA3 allele encoding a defective phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthase is lethal for all but certain strains. Genetic analysis of such strains has revealed that the lethal effect is fully suppressed by the lack of the major outer membrane lipoprotein that consumes phosphatidylglycerol for its maturation.     

Phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthases from Arabidopsis thaliana.

Two Arabidopsis thaliana genes were shown to encode phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthases (PGPS) of 25.4 and 32.2 kDa, respectively. Apart from their N-terminal regions, the two proteins exhibit high sequence similarity. Functional expression studies in yeast provided evidence that the 25.4 kDa protein is a microsomal PGPS while the 32.2 kDa protein represents a preprotein which can be imported into yeast mitochondria and processed to a mature PGPS. The two isozymes were solubilized and purified as fusion proteins carrying a His tag at their C-terminus. Enzyme assays with both membrane fractions and purified enzyme fractions revealed that the two A. thaliana isozymes have similar properties but differ in their CDP-diacylglycerol species specificity.     

The pgpA and pgpB genes of Escherichia coli are not essential: evidence for a third phosphatidylglycerophosphate phosphatase.

To further define the genes and gene products responsible for the in vivo conversion of phosphatidylglycerophosphate to phosphatidylglycerol in Escherichia coli, we disrupted two genes (pgpA and pgpB) which had previously been shown to encode gene products which carried out this reaction in vitro (T. Icho and C. R. H. Raetz, J. Bacteriol. 153:722-730, 1983). Strains with either gene or both genes disrupted had the same properties as the original mutants isolated with mutations in these genes, i.e., reduced in vitro phospholipid phosphatase activities, normal growth properties, and an increase in the level of phosphatidylglycerophosphate (1.6% versus less than 0.1% in wild-type strains). These results demonstrate that these genes are not required for either normal cell growth or the biosynthesis of phosphatidylglycerol in vivo. In addition, the total phosphatidylglycerophosphate phosphatase activity in the doubly disrupted mutant was reduced by only 50%, which indicates that there is at least one other gene that encodes such an activity and thus accounts for the lack of a dramatic effect on the biosynthesis of anionic phospholipids in these mutant strains. The phosphatidic acid and lysophosphatidic acid phosphatase activities of the pgpB gene product were also significantly reduced in gene-interrupted mutants, but the detection of residual phosphatase activities in these mutants indicated that additional genes encoding such phosphatases exist. The lack of a significant phenotype resulting from disruption of the pgpA and pgpB genes indicates that these genes may be required only for nonessential cell function and leaves the biosynthesis of phosphatidylglycerophosphate as the only step in E. coli phospholipid biosynthesis for which a gene locus has not been identified.     

Intracellular distribution of enzymes of phospholipid metabolism in several gram-negative bacteria.

Cell-free extracts of Salmonella typhimurium, Serratia marcescens, Enterobacter aerogenes, and Micrococcus cerificans contained the following enzymatic activities related to phospholipid metabolism: cytidine 5'-diphospho-1,2-diacyl-sn-glycerol (CDP-diglyceride):l-serine O-phosphatidyltransferase (phosphatidylserine synthase), phosphatidylserine decarboxylase, CDP-diglyceride:sn-glycero-3-phosphate phosphatidyltransferase (phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthase), phosphatidylglycerophosphate phosphatase, and CDP-diglyceride hydrolase. The intracellular distribution of these enzymatic activities as determined by sucrose density gradient centrifugation of cell-free extracts was shown to be similar in each species investigated. The phosphatidylserine decarboxylase, phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthase, and CDP-diglyceride hydrolase activities were all associated with the cell envelope fraction, whereas the phosphatidylserine synthase activity was associated mainly with the ribosomal fraction. These enzymatic activities are comparable and have an intracellular distribution similar to those found in Escherichia coli cell-free extracts. Therefore, the pathways established for phospholipid biosynthesis in E. coli can also account for the synthesis of the major phospholipids (phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylglycerol) in several other gram-negative organisms. In addition, the unusual ribosomal association of the phosphatidylserine synthase from E. coli (Raetz and Kennedy, J. Biol. Chem. 247:2008-2014, 1972) appears to be a general property for this activity in several other bacterial species.     

Deficiency of cardiolipin synthase causes abnormal mitochondrial function and morphology in germ cells of Caenorhabditis elegans

Cardiolipin (CL) is a major membrane phospholipid specifically localized in mitochondria. At the cellular level, CL has been shown to have a role in mitochondrial energy production, mitochondrial membrane dynamics, and the triggering of apoptosis. However, the in vivo role of CL in multicellular organisms is largely unknown. In this study, by analyzing deletion mutants of a CL synthase gene (crls-1) in Caenorhabditis elegans, we demonstrated that CL depletion selectively caused abnormal mitochondrial function and morphology in germ cells but not in somatic cell types such as muscle cells. crls-1 mutants reached adulthood but were sterile with reduced germ cell proliferation and impaired oogenesis. In the gonad of crls-1 mutants, mitochondrial membrane potential was significantly decreased, and the structure of the mitochondrial cristae was disrupted. Contrary to the abnormalities in the gonad, somatic tissues in crls-1 mutants appeared normal with respect to cell proliferation, mitochondrial function, and mitochondrial morphology. Increased susceptibility to CL depletion in germ cells was also observed in mutants of phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthase, an enzyme responsible for producing phosphatidylglycerol, a precursor phospholipid of CL. We propose that the contribution of CL to mitochondrial function and morphology is different among the cell types in C. elegans.     

Sites of phospholipid biosynthesis during induction of intracytoplasmic membrane formation in Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides

A rapid, gratuitous and cell-division uncoupled induction of intracytoplasmic photosynthetic membrane formation was demonstrated in low-aeration suspensions of chemotrophically grown Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides. Despite a nearly 2-fold increase in phospholipid levels, no significant increases were detected in the specific activities of CDP-1,2-diacyl-sn-glycerol:sn-glycerol-3-phosphate phosphatidyltransferase (phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthase, EC 2.7.8.5) and CDP-1,2-diacyl-sn-glycerol:L-serine O-phosphatidyltransferase (phosphatidylserine synthase, EC 2.7.8.8), the first committed enzymes of anionic and zwitterionic phospholipid biosyntheses, respectively. The distribution of phosphatidylglycerophosphate and phosphatidylserine synthase activities after rate-zone sedimentation of cell-free extracts indicated that intracytoplasmic membrane phospholipids were synthesized mainly within distinct domains of the conserved cytoplasmic membrane. Labeling studies with ³²P_i and L-[³H]phenylalanine suggested that preexisting phospholipid was utilized initially as the matrix for insertion of intracytoplasmic membrane protein that was synthesized and assembled de novo during induction.Abbreviations BChl bacteriochlorophyll a - B800-850, B875 peripheral and core light-harvesting BChl-protein complexes, respectively, identified by near-IR absorption maxima This paper is dedicated to Professor Gerhart Drews on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday     

Primary structure and product characterization of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae CHO1 gene that encodes phosphatidylserine synthase

An open reading frame of 828 base pairs was found in the CHO1 gene region of Saccharomyces cerevisiae by nucleotide sequencing analysis. Its enhanced expression with the aid of the PHO5 regulatory sequence resulted in an overproduction of a protein with a molecular weight of approximately 30,000, which in turn was converted by proteolysis to active phosphatidylserine synthase, whose molecular weight was approximately 23,000. The larger protein was concluded to be the primary product of the CHO1 gene, since its amino-terminal sequence was identical to that deduced from the nucleotide sequence of the above open reading frame, except for the terminal methionine residue. A partial homology in primary structures was noticed between this yeast enzyme and phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthase of Escherichia coli which also uses CDP-diacylglycerol as a substrate. The overproduced phosphatidylserine synthase in both microsomal and extensively purified fractions displayed two different Km values for L-serine, i.e., 0.14 mM at low L-serine concentrations and 9.5 mM at high L-serine concentrations. This may indicate a negatively cooperative regulation of this enzyme activity or the presence of two active components with different affinities for L-serine.     

Ribosomal-associated phosphatidylserine synthetase from Escherichia coli: purification by substrate-specific elution from phosphocellulose using cytidine 5'-diphospho-1,2-diacyl-sn-glycerol.

Cytidine 5'-diphospho-1,2-diacyl-sn-glycerol (CDPdiglyceride):L-serine O-phosphatidyltransferase (EC 2.7.8.8, phosphatidylserine synthetase) is bound tightly to the ribosomes in crude extracts of Escherichia coli. After separation of the enzyme from the ribosomes by the method of Raetz and Kennedy (Raetz, C.R.H., and Kennedy, E.P. (1974), J. Biol. Chem. 249, 5038), we have purified the enzyme to 97% of homogenekty. The major portion of the overall 5500-fold purification was attained by substrate-specific elution from phosphocellulose using CDP-diglyceride in the presence of detergent. The purified enzyme migrated as a single band with an apparent minimum molecular weight of 54 000 when subjected to electrophoresis on polyacrylamide disc gels containing sodium dodecyl sulfate. The purified enzyme catalyzed exchange reactions between cytidine 5'- monophosphate (CMP) and CDP-diglyceride and between serine and phosphatidylserine. The enzyme also catalyzed the hydrolysis of CDP-diglyceride to form CMP and phosphatidic acid. dCDP-diglyceride was equivalent to CDP-diglyceride in all reactions catalyzed by the enzyme. In addition, the purified enzyme catalyzed the formation of phosphatidylglycerol or phosphatidylglycerophosphate at a very slow rate when serine was replaced as substrate by glycerol or sn-glycero-3-phosphate, respectively. These results suggest catalysis occurs via a ping-pong mechanism through the formation of a phosphatidyl-enzyme intermediate.     

Isolation and expression of the Rhodobacter sphaeroides gene (pgsA) encoding phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthase.

The Rhodobacter sphaeroides pgsA gene (pgsARs), encoding phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthase (PgsARs), was cloned, sequenced, and expressed in both R. sphaeroides and Escherichia coli. As in E. coli, pgsARs is located immediately downstream of the uvrC gene. Comparison of the deduced amino acid sequences revealed 41% identity and 69% similarity to the pgsA gene of E. coli, with similar homology to the products of the putative pgsA genes of several other bacteria. Comparison of the amino acid sequences of a number of enzymes involved in CDP-diacylglycerol-dependent phosphatidyltransfer identified a highly conserved region also found in PgsARs. The pgsARs gene carried on multicopy plasmids was expressed in R. sphaeroides under the direction of its own promoter, the R. sphaeroides rrnB promoter, and the E. coli lac promoter, and this resulted in significant overproduction of PgsARs activity. Expression of PgsARs activity in E. coli occurred only with the E. coli lac promoter. PgsARs could functionally replace the E. coli enzyme in both a point mutant and a null mutant of E. coli pgsA. Overexpression of PgsARs in either E. coli or R. sphaeroides did not have dramatic effects on the phospholipid composition of the cells, suggesting regulation of the activity of this enzyme in both organisms.     

Role of cell surface mannose residues in host cell invasion by Trypanosoma cruzi

The cholesterol content of human erythrocyte membranes has been modified by incubation of intact cells with sonicated egg phosphatidylcholine/cholesterol vesicles and with egg phosphatidylcholine vesicles. (Na+ + K+)-ATPase ATP hydrolyzing activity was measured as a function of membrane cholesterol content. High membrane cholesterol inhibits the ATPase activity of the enzyme and low membrane cholesterol activates that enzyme activity. The most likely mechanism of inhibition is suggested to comprise direct cholesterol-protein interactions which lead to a low activity conformation. Ouabain binding studies show that the inhibition is not due to a loss of enzyme from the membrane.     

Degradation of intact basement membranes by human and murine tumor enzymes

Homogenates from malignant tumors, obtained from surgery specimens or from transplants of Walker 256 carcinosarcoma in rats, contained an enzyme activity capable of degrading intact 3H-acetylated basement membranes from bovine lens. The enzyme activity from murine tumor was purified about 7500-fold by (NH4)2SO4 fractionation, ion exchange and gel chromatography. The apparent molecular weight of the purified enzyme was approximately 50,000. The rate of degradation of 3H-labelled basement membrane by the murine tumor enzyme was reduced by addition of excess type IV collagen, but not of excess type I, type III or type V collagen. These results suggested specificity of this enzyme for type IV collagen. Inhibitors of serine proteinases, thiol proteinases and soybean trypsin inhibitor were without effect on the enzyme activity. Chelators such as 1,10-phenanthroline or EDTA reduced the activity to control levels, indicating that the enzyme activity was due to a metalloproteinase. Chromatographic and electrophoretic separation of the enzymatic products from 3H-labelled basement membrane and type IV collagen indicated that the enzyme activity was due to a type IV collagenase. The use of basement membrane in the native physiological state as a substrate for the study of basement membrane-degrading activity by homogenates of solid malignant tumors offers an in vitro model for the investigation of the metastatic potential of these tumors.