Activities of serine palmitoyltransferase (3-ketosphinganine synthase) in microsomes from different rat tissues

Serine palmitoyltransferase [EC 2.3.1.50] catalyzes the first unique reaction of sphingolipid biosynthesis. To determine whether or not different rat tissues are capable of initiating this pathway, its activity was determined for microsomes from rat liver, lung, brain, kidney, intestine, spleen, muscle, heart, pancreas, testes, ovary, and stomach. Serine palmitoyltransferase was found in every tissue, and, when compared to the microsomal glycerol 3-phosphate acyltransferase, the activities correlated directly with their sphingomyelin levels as a percentage of total phospholipids. This suggests that the activities were comparable to expected cellular needs for long-chain bases, if the initial enzymes of glycerolipid and sphingolipid biosynthesis influence the phospholipid composition of cells by determining the relative partitioning of fatty acyl-CoA's toward these two lipid classes. Serine palmitoyltransferase activities were also determined using different fatty acyl-CoA's and were consistently greatest with CoA thioesters of saturated fatty acids with 16 +/- 1 carbon atoms. This suggests that the predominance of 18-carbon long-chain bases in vivo is due to the higher activity of this enzyme with palmitoyl-CoA. Together, these findings indicate a role for serine palmitoyltransferase in regulating both the type and amount of long-chain bases found in tissues.