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Volume 149, Issue 12

Pathways for phosphatidylcholine biosynthesis in bacteria Free

Abstract

Phosphatidylcholine (PC) is the major membrane-forming phospholipid in eukaryotes with important structural and signalling functions. Although many prokaryotes lack PC, it can be found in significant amounts in membranes of rather diverse bacteria. Two pathways for PC biosynthesis are known in bacteria, the methylation pathway and the phosphatidylcholine synthase (PCS) pathway. In the methylation pathway, phosphatidylethanolamine is methylated three times to yield PC, in reactions catalysed by one or several phospholipid -methyltransferases (PMTs). In the PCS pathway, choline is condensed directly with CDP-diacylglyceride to form PC in a reaction catalysed by PCS. Using cell-free extracts, it was demonstrated that , , , , and have both PMT and PCS activities. In addition, has PMT activity and , and have PCS activities. Genes from and encoding a Pmt or a Pcs activity and the genes from and responsible for Pcs activity have been identified. Based on these functional assignments and on genomic data, one might predict that if bacteria contain PC as a membrane lipid, they usually possess both bacterial pathways for PC biosynthesis. However, important pathogens such as , and seem to be exceptional as they possess only the PCS pathway for PC formation.

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Keyword(s): DMPE, dimethylphosphatidylethanolamine , MMPE, monomethylphosphatidylethanolamine , PC, phosphatidylcholine , Pcs/PCS, phosphatidylcholine synthase , PE, phosphatidylethanolamine and Pmt/PMT, phospholipid N-methyltransferase
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2003-12-01
2024-04-23
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Pathways for phosphatidylcholine biosynthesis in bacteria
Microbiology 149, 3461 (2003); https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.26522-0
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.26522-0
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