Photoaffinity labeling of cottonseed microsomal N-acylphosphatidylethanolamine synthase protein with a substrate analogue, 12-[(4-azidosalicyl)amino]dodecanoic acid

A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for measurement of N-modified phosphatidylethanolamines

N-Acyl phosphatidylethanolamines (NAPEs) are synthesised in response to stress in a variety of organisms from bacteria to humans. More recently, nonenzymatic modification of the ethanolamine headgroup of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) by various aldehydes, including levuglandins/isoketals (which are gamma-ketoaldehydes [gammaKAs] derived from arachidonic acid), has also been demonstrated. The levels of these various N-modified PEs formed during stress and their biological significance remain to be fully characterized. Such studies require an accurate, facile, and cost-effective method for quantifying N-modified PEs. Previously, NAPE and some of the nonenzymatically N-modified PE species have been quantified by mass spectrometry after hydrolysis to their constituent N-acylethanolamine by enzymatic hydrolysis, most typically with Streptomyces chromofuscus phospholipase D. However, enzymatic hydrolysis is not cost-effective for routine analysis of a large number of samples, and hydrolytic efficiency may vary for different N-modified PEs, making quantitation more difficult. Therefore, we sought a robust and inexpensive chemical hydrolysis approach. Methylamine (CH(3)NH(2))-mediated deacylation has previously been used in headgroup analysis of phosphatidylinositol phosphates. Therefore, we developed an accurate assay for NAPEs and gammaKA-PEs using CH(3)NH(2)-mediated deacylation and quantitation of the resulting glycerophospho-N-modified ethanolamines by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

Emerging physiological roles for N-acylphosphatidylethanolamine metabolism in plants: signal transduction and membrane protection

The activation of N-acylphosphatidylethanolamine (NAPE) metabolism in plants appears to be associated mostly with cellular stresses. In response to pathogen elicitors, NAPE is hydrolzyed by phospholipase-D (PLD), and corresponding medium-chain, saturated N-acylethanolamines (NAEs) are released by plant cells where they act as lipid mediators to modulate ion flux and activate defense gene expression. In desiccated seeds of higher plants, long-chain, saturated and unsaturated NAEs are prevalent, but are rapidly metabolized during the first few hours of imbibition, a period of substantial osmotic stress. NAPE synthesis is increased in seeds during this same period of rapid rehydration. A membrane-bound enzyme designated NAPE synthase has been purified from imbibed cottonseeds and its unusual biochemical properties suggest that it may scavenge free fatty acids in vivo. This feature of NAPE metabolism may be unique to higher plants a may be a mechanism for the rapid recycling of fatty acids back into membrane-associated NAPE. Altogether, increasing evidence indicates that NAPE metabolism in plants shares functional similarities with NAPE metabolism in animal systems, including signal transduction and cellular protection. In particular, the emerging role of released NAEs as lipid mediators in plant defense signaling represents an intriguing parallel to 'endocannabinoid signaling' in several mammalian cell types.

Enzymology of cottonseed microsomal N-acylphosphatidylethanolamine synthase: kinetic properties and mechanism-based inactivation

An ATP-, Ca2+-, and CoA-independent acyltransferase activity, designated "N-acylphosphatidylethanolamine (NAPE) synthase", was reported to catalyze the direct acylation of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) with free fatty acids (FFAs) in cottonseed microsomes [K.D. Chapman, T.S. Moore, Jr., Plant Physiol. 102 (3) (1993) 761-769]. Here, NAPE synthase was purified 138, 176-fold from crude cottonseed homogenates to a specific activity of 5.98 mumol min-1 mg-1 protein by immobilized artificial membrane chromatography. Enzyme purity was confirmed by the presence of a 64 kDa polypeptide in fractions analyzed by tricine-SDS-PAGE. Initial velocity measurements with various free fatty acids ([14C]-linoleic, -palmitic, -oleic, -stearic and -myristic acids) and saturating concentrations of dioleoyl-PE revealed non-Michaelis-Menten, biphasic kinetics with high and low affinity sites demonstrating positive cooperativity specific for each [14C]-FFA. In contrast to FFA substrates, no kinetic differences were observed for two different molecular species of PE, (18:1,18:1)-PE and (16:0,18:2)-PE, and biphasic curves were not pronounced. Neither [14C]-dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine nor [14C]-palmitoyl-CoA served as acyl donors for the synthesis of NAPE, indicating a preference for FFAs as the acyl donor. Also, neither ethanolamine nor sphingosine functioned as acyl acceptor molecule to form N-acylethanolamine or ceramide, respectively, indicating specificity for the phospholipid PE. NAPE synthase was inactivated in a time- and concentration-dependent manner by diisopropylfluorophosphate (DFP) through the apparent modification of one serine residue. Palmitic acid protected the enzyme from DFP-inactivation and [14C]-DFP incorporation, suggesting that a serine residue probably binds FFAs in the enzyme's active site forming an acyl-enzyme intermediate. Collectively, these results provide new information on the kinetic behavior of a purified, integral membrane enzyme which synthesizes a bilayer-stabilizing product from two lipid-soluble substrates. The biochemical properties of cottonseed NAPE synthase are consistent with a possible free fatty acid scavenging role in vivo. (c) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.

Differential scanning calorimetric studies on the thermotropic phase transitions of dry and hydrated forms of N-acylethanolamines of even chainlengths

N-acylethanolamines (NAEs) have attracted the attention of researchers in the last two decades due to their occurrence in biological membranes under conditions of stress as well as under normal conditions. Differential scanning calorimetric studies have been carried out on dry and hydrated samples of a homologous series of N-acylethanolamines containing saturated acyl chains of even number of carbon atoms (n = 8-20). In both cases a major sharp endothermic transition was observed which occurs at the melting point for the dry NAEs whereas for the hydrated samples it occurs at considerably lower temperatures. The enthalpies and entropies corresponding to this transition could be fitted, in each case, to a straight line suggesting that the transition enthalpy and transition entropy consist of a fixed component from the polar head group and the terminal methyl group, whereas the contribution of the methylene groups, (CH2)n, is linearly proportional to the number of carbon atoms in it. The contributions of each methylene unit to the transition enthalpy and transition entropy of NAEs were found to be deltaH(inc) = 0.82 (+/-0.02) and 0.96 (+/-0.06) kcal mol(-1), and deltaS(inc) = 2.01 (+/- 0.06) and 2.37 (+/-0.17) cal mol(-1) K(-1), respectively, for the dry and hydrated samples of NAEs, whereas the end contributions arising from the head group and the terminal methyl group were determined to be deltaH(o) = -0.10 (+/-0.26) and -0.52 (+/-0.82) kcal mol(-1) and deltaS(o) = 2.12 (+/-0.71) and 3.1 (+/-2.3) cal mol(-1) K(-1), respectively, for the dry and hydrated samples of NAEs. These results are relevant to an understanding of the thermodynamics of the phase properties of NAEs in membranes.