Phospholipids Chiral at Phosphorus. 13. Stereochemical Comparison of Phospholipase A2, Lecithin-Cholesterol Acyl Transferase, and Platelet-Activating Factor

Competitive inhibition of lipolytic enzymes. I. A kinetic model applicable to water-insoluble competitive inhibitors

It is now becoming clear from the abundant lipolytic enzyme literature that any meaningful interpretation of inhibition data has to take into account the kinetics of enzyme action at the lipid/water interface. We attempt in the present paper to provide a kinetic model applicable to water-insoluble competitive inhibitors, in order to quantitatively compare the results obtained at several laboratories. We derived kinetic equations applicable to the pre-steady state as well as steady state. By measuring the inhibitory power, as described in the present paper, it is possible to obtain a normalized estimation of the relative efficiency of various potential inhibitors. Furthermore, with the kinetic treatment developed here, it is possible to make quantitative comparisons with the same inhibitor placed under various physico-chemical situations, i.e., micellar or monolayer states.

Phospholipase A2 engineering: design, synthesis, and expression of a gene for bovine (pro)phospholipase A2

A gene coding for the (pro)phospholipase A2 (PLA2) from bovine pancreas has been designed, synthesized, and expressed in Escherichia coli. The gene was designed with a variety of restriction sites that will facilitate future mutagenesis studies. Codons occurring frequently in prokaryotic systems were chosen whenever possible. The total gene spans 404 base pairs and was divided into 33 oligonucleotides. The gene was constructed in two halves of 224 and 180 base pairs from the oligonucleotides by the shotgun ligation technique using pBSM13- as the cloning vehicle. The two fragments were then ligated and cloned into pBSM13- to complete the gene. The (pro)PLA2 gene was then verified by restriction site mapping and dideoxy sequencing. The gene was expressed to high levels from a high copy number vector, designated as pJPN, derived from the E. coli secretion vector pIN-III-ompA3. Although the protein failed to be excreted and was in the form of insoluble inclusion body, active PLA2 could be obtained by renaturation of the inclusion body pellet followed by tryptic activation, which removes the signal sequence and the pro-peptide of proPLA2. The PLA2 thus obtained reacted with the antisera raised against the natural PLA2 purified from bovine pancreas, and the specific activity of the expressed PLA2 was identical to that of the natural PLA2. The shotgun ligation and synthetic gene approaches are simple and inexpensive and can be adapted to express most of the enzymes in the phospholipase A2 family.

Phospholipids chiral at phosphorus. Synthesis and stereospecificity of phosphorothioate analogues of platelet-activating factor

RP and SP isomers of 1-O-hexadecyl-2-acetyl-3-thiophosphocholine (AGEPsC) have been synthesized. The activity of these isomers in platelet aggregation and serotonin secretion was compared with that of 1-O-hexadecyl-2-acetyl-3-phosphocholine (AGEPC). The results show that (SP)-AGEPsC has the same activity as AGEPC within experimental error in both assays. The RP isomer, however, is only 0.6-2% as active as AGEPC in platelet aggregation and serotonin release. The results suggest that the phosphate group of AGEPC is likely to be involved in the interactions with its receptor, at least in the events leading to platelet aggregation and secretion.