A new bacterial sphingophospholipid containing 3-aminopropane-1,2-diol

Maternal Nutrient Restriction Disrupts Gene Expression and Metabolites Associated with Urea Cycle, Steroid Synthesis, Glucose Homeostasis, and Glucuronidation in Fetal Calf Liver

This study aimed to understand the mechanisms underlying the effects of maternal undernutrition (MUN) on liver growth and metabolism in Japanese Black fetal calves (8.5 months in utero) using an approach that integrates metabolomics and transcriptomics. Dams were fed 60% (low-nutrition; LN) or 120% (high-nutrition; HN) of their overall nutritional requirements during gestation. We found that MUN markedly decreased the body and liver weights of the fetuses; metabolomic analysis revealed that aspartate, glycerol, alanine, gluconate 6-phosphate, and ophthalmate levels were decreased, whereas UDP-glucose, UDP-glucuronate, octanoate, and 2-hydroxybutyrate levels were decreased in the LN fetal liver (p ≤ 0.05). According to metabolite set enrichment analysis, the highly different metabolites were associated with metabolisms including the arginine and proline metabolism, nucleotide and sugar metabolism, propanoate metabolism, glutamate metabolism, porphyrin metabolism, and urea cycle. Transcriptomic and qPCR analyses revealed that MUN upregulated QRFPR and downregulated genes associated with the glucose homeostasis (G6PC, PCK1, DPP4), ketogenesis (HMGCS2), glucuronidation (UGT1A1, UGT1A6, UGT2A1), lipid metabolism (ANGPTL4, APOA5, FADS2), cholesterol and steroid homeostasis (FDPS, HSD11B1, HSD17B6), and urea cycle (CPS1, ASS1, ASL, ARG2). These metabolic pathways were extracted as relevant terms in subsequent gene ontology/pathway analyses. Collectively, these results indicate that the citrate cycle was maintained at the expense of activities of the energy metabolism, glucuronidation, steroid hormone homeostasis, and urea cycle in the liver of MUN fetuses.

Production of α-galactosylceramide by a prominent member of the human gut microbiota

While the human gut microbiota are suspected to produce diffusible small molecules that modulate host signaling pathways, few of these molecules have been identified. Species of Bacteroides and their relatives, which often comprise >50% of the gut community, are unusual among bacteria in that their membrane is rich in sphingolipids, a class of signaling molecules that play a key role in inducing apoptosis and modulating the host immune response. Although known for more than three decades, the full repertoire of Bacteroides sphingolipids has not been defined. Here, we use a combination of genetics and chemistry to identify the sphingolipids produced by Bacteroides fragilis NCTC 9343. We constructed a deletion mutant of BF2461, a putative serine palmitoyltransferase whose yeast homolog catalyzes the committed step in sphingolipid biosynthesis. We show that the Δ2461 mutant is sphingolipid deficient, enabling us to purify and solve the structures of three alkaline-stable lipids present in the wild-type strain but absent from the mutant. The first compound was the known sphingolipid ceramide phosphorylethanolamine, and the second was its corresponding dihydroceramide base. Unexpectedly, the third compound was the glycosphingolipid α-galactosylceramide (α-GalCer(Bf)), which is structurally related to a sponge-derived sphingolipid (α-GalCer, KRN7000) that is the prototypical agonist of CD1d-restricted natural killer T (iNKT) cells. We demonstrate that α-GalCer(Bf) has similar immunological properties to KRN7000: it binds to CD1d and activates both mouse and human iNKT cells both in vitro and in vivo. Thus, our study reveals BF2461 as the first known member of the Bacteroides sphingolipid pathway, and it indicates that the committed steps of the Bacteroides and eukaryotic sphingolipid pathways are identical. Moreover, our data suggest that some Bacteroides sphingolipids might influence host immune homeostasis.

The polar-lipid composition of the sphingolipid-producing bacterium Flectobacillus major

Polar lipids comprise about 90% of the total chloroform-methanol extractable lipids of the Gram-negative, fresh-water, ring-forming bacterium Flectobacillus major FM and consist of at least 10 constituents. These are aminophosphosphingolipids, 2-N-(2'-D-hydroxy-13'-methyltetradecanoyl)-15-methyl-4(E)-hexad ecasph ingenyl-1-phosphoethanolamine (36.8% of the total polar lipids) and its 2'-deoxy derivative (3.7%); sulfonic-acid analogues of ceramide, 2-D-(2'-D-hydroxy-13'-methyltetradecanoyl)amino-3-D-hydroxy-15-met hyl hexadecane-1-sulfonic acid (18.1%) and its 2'-deoxy derivative (3. 5%); a lipoamino acid, N-[3-D-(15'-methylhexadecanoyloxy)-15-methylhexadecanoyl]-gl ycine (3. 7%); a lipodipeptide, N-¿N'-[3"-D-(15"'-methylhexadecanoyloxy)-15"-methylhexadecanoyl ]glycy l¿-L-serine (7.8%); 1,2-diacyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (7. 7%), 1,2-diacyl-3-alpha-D-galactopyranosyl-sn-glycerol (2.9%); ceramide phospho-myo-inositol (4.9%), and a previously described unusual glycosphingolipid, 7-deoxy-7-amino-D-manno-heptulosonopyranosyl (1-hydroxycarbonyl-6-deoxy-6-amino-alpha-D-mannopyranosyl) ceramide (10.9%); the last two lipids contain only 15-methyl-4(E)-hexadecasphingenine as a long-chain base. The sole structural type of amide-bound fatty acids in the sphingolipids, including the sulfonic-acid analogues, is iso-15:0, either non-hydroxylated or hydroxylated at 2-C, whereas 15-methylhexadecanoic acid is the major ester-bound fatty acid in the remaining lipids.

A novel sulfonic-acid analogue of ceramide is the major extractable lipid of the gram-negative marine bacterium Cyclobacterium marinus WH

The extractable lipids of the gram-negative, sea-water bacterium Cyclobacterium marinus strain WH contain about 94% of polar components which consist of two phospholipids, phosphatidylethanolamine (29% of the total lipids) and phosphatidylcholine (7%), and two phosphorus-free lipids. One of the latter has been shown to be a novel sulfonic-acid analogue of ceramide, 2-D-(2'-D-hydroxy-13'-methyltetradecanoyl) amino-3-D-hydroxy-15-methylhexadec-4 (E)-en-1-sulfonic acid (48%), and other is a lipodipeptide, N-[3-d-(13'-methyltetradecanoyloxy)-15-methylhexadecanoyl] glycyl-L-serine (11%), which has so far been found only in a Flavobacterium sp. strain. The dominant fatty acid residues of the phospholipids are iso-15:0, n-16:0, 16:1 and 18:1, the acyl residues linked to the sn-1 carbon of the glycerol moiety being somewhat more saturated as compared with those located at the sn-2 position. A new procedure for determination of the absolute configuration of 2- and 3-hydroxy fatty acids is briefly described.

Fast atom bombardment and tandem mass spectrometry of phosphatidylserine and phosphatidylcholine

Fast atom bombardment (FAB) desorption of phosphatidylserine and various phosphatidylcholines produces a limited number of very informative negative ions. Especially significant is the formation of (M-H)- ions for phosphatidylserine, a compound which does not yield informative high mass ions by other ionization methods. Phosphatidylcholines do not yield (M-H)- ions but instead produce three characteristic high mass ions, (M-CH+3)-, [M-HN(CH3)+3]- and [M-HN(CH3)+3-C2H2]-. Both classes of lipids also yield anions attributed to the carboxylate components of these complex lipids. FAB desorption in combination with collisional activation allows for characterization of fragmentation and determination of structural features. Collisional activation of the carboxylate anion fragments from the complex lipids is especially informative. Structural characterization of the fatty acid chain can be achieved as the released saturated carboxylate anions undergo a highly specific 1,4-elimination of H2, which results in the losses of the elements of CH4, C2H6, C3H8 . . . in a fashion entirely consistent with the chemistry of carboxylate anions desorbed from free fatty acids. These CnH2n + 2 losses begin at the alkyl terminus and progress along the entire alkyl chain. Modified fatty acids undergo a similar fragmentation; however, the modification affects the series of CnH2n + 2 losses in a manner which permits determining the type of modification and its location on the fatty acid chain.

Isolation and characterization of the liponucleotides of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The liponucleotide fraction of Saccharomyces cerevisiae was isolated from cells grown on tritiated uracil and identified as CDPdiacylglycerol on the basis of (1), its behavior as a single compound upon DEAE-cellulose and thin-layer chromatography; (2), its extreme lability to mild alkaline methanolysis; and (3), its hydrolysis by the CDPdiacylglycerol hydrolase of Escherichia coli to yield tritiated 5'-CMP. At most, only about 5% of yeast liponucleotide could be dCDPdiacylglycerol, in contrast to the presence of nearly equimolar amounts of CDP-and dCDPdiacylglycerols in E. coli. Although no CDPceramide could be detected in the liponucleotide fraction of this organism, the possibility still exists that it may be an intermediate in the biosynthesis of sphingolipids in systems yet to be examined.

Phospholipid biosynthesis in the anaerobic protozoon Entodinium caudatum

1. The anaerobic rumen protozoon Entodinium caudatum was incubated either intact or with various radioactive precursors of phospholipids after ultrasonication. 2. Pulse-chase experiments showed a rapid turnover of phosphatidylinositol and much slower turnovers of phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylcholine. 3. E. caudatum imbibed choline very rapidly; this was immediately and exclusively converted into phosphatidylcholine which was shown by radioautography after 10 min to be distributed throughout the cell membranes. 4. Phosphatidylcholine was synthesized through a phosphorylcholine-CDP-choline pathway, the methylation or base-exchange pathways not being present. 5. Under suitable conditions [Me-14C]choline can be substantially (50-60%) converted into CDP-choline by sonicated E. caudatum and this provides an excellent method of preparing this biosynthetic intermediary. 6. [2-14C]Ethanolamine was taken up much less readily than choline. The former was incorporated into phosphatidylethanolamine by the CDP-ethanolamine pathway. 7. Doubly labelled [32P]phosphatidyl[2-3H]ethanolamine was converted into ceramide phosphorylethanolamine and N-(1-carboxyethyl)phosphatidyl-ethanolamine, without change in the isotopic ratio. Ceramide phosphoryl [2-14C]-ethanolamine was converted into phsophatidylethanolamine. 8. Palmitic acid, oleic acid and linoleic acid were taken by E. caudatum cells and incorporated into phospholipids. By contrast, although stearic acid was taken up it was hardly incorporated into phospholipids.

Occurrence of phosphonosphingolipids in Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus strain UKi2

The major phospholipids of two strains of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus were characterized. Both strain UKi1, which is obligately saprophytic, and strain UKi2, which is facultatively parasitic, contained phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylglycerol as their major glycerophosphatides. A branched, 15-carbon fatty acid is the major component of these alkali-labile lipids. Absent from UKi1 but present in UKi2 were three alkali-stable lipids (compounds 8, 9, and 11) which appear to be phosphosphingolipids. After acid hydrolysis, both compound 8 and 9 yield the identical phosphorus-containing substance that is water soluble, dipolar ionic, and ninhydrin positive. This substance appears to contain a C-P bond since P(i) could not be released from this substance by treatment with alkaline phosphatase or by very harsh mineral acid treatment. Based on chromatographic comparisons, this phosphonate appears to be a novel lipid constituent. Upon degradation, compound 8 yields 1 mol of dihydroxy long-chain base and compound 9 yields 1 mol of a trihydroxy long-chain base. These bases appear to have a 17-carbon, possibly branched, structure based on gas-liquid chromatography retention times. Degradation of both sphingolipids yields a mixture of hydroxy fatty acids, the major component being a branched, 15-carbon hydroxy acid.