PILS-Nir1 is a novel phosphatidic acid biosensor that reveals mechanisms of lipid production

Despite various roles of phosphatidic acid (PA) in cellular functions such as lipid homeostasis and vesicular trafficking, there is a lack of high-affinity tools to study PA in live cells. After analyzing the predicted structure of the LNS2 domain from the lipid transfer protein Nir1, we suspected that this phosphatidic acid-interacting Lipin-like sequence of Nir1 (PILS-Nir1) could serve as a novel PA biosensor. We then performed liposome binding assays as well as pharmacological and genetic manipulations of HEK293A cells expressing a fluorescent PILS-Nir1 to determine how specific lipids affect the interaction of PILS-Nir1 with membranes. We found that PILS-Nir1 bound to both PA and PIP₂ in vitro. However, only PA was necessary and sufficient to localize PILS-Nir1 to membranes in cells. PILS-Nir1 also showed a heightened responsiveness to PA produced in various organelles when compared to biosensors using the Spo20 PA binding domain. PILS-Nir1's high sensitivity revealed a modest but discernible contribution of PLD to PA production downstream of muscarinic receptors, which has not been visualized with previous Spo20-based probes. In summary, PILS-Nir1 emerges as a versatile and sensitive biosensor, offering a new powerful tool for real-time investigation of PA dynamics in live cells.