Regulation of eukaryotic phospholipid metabolism

Phospholipids have diverse and critical roles in cellular metabolism and function. Questions about the mechanisms of regulation of phospholipid synthesis are being investigated with a variety of systems and approaches. For example, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is an organism in which both biochemical and genetic analyses are used. Biochemical approaches have yielded considerable information on the regulatory properties of enzymes of phospholipid biosynthesis. Studies of the activity of purified phosphatidylserine synthase have suggested how that enzyme is influenced by membrane phospholipids in the cell. The enzyme that regulates mammalian phosphatidylcholine biosynthesis, CTP:phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase, is also influenced by phospholipids. In addition, the activity of this enzyme often correlates with its translocation to membranes. The location of such enzymes in the cell is of particular interest in light of the possibility that the enzymatic reactions may be efficiently coupled in vivo. Techniques to render cultured cells permeable to phosphorylated molecules indicated that the enzymes of phosphatidylcholine biosynthesis may exist in an organized compartment so that the precursors of phosphatidylcholine are efficiently channeled through the pathway. To ask how phospholipids are transported in the cell, a combined biochemical and genetic approach has been used. These studies have revealed that the phosphatidylinositol/phosphatidylcholine transfer protein, considered to mediate intracellular phospholipid transfer, is a critical component of the secretory pathway for proteins. These results have allowed formulation of a number of new questions on the regulation of phospholipid metabolism and its relationship to general membrane processes.