Metabolic labeling of glycerophospholipids

The approach of metabolic labeling provides an invaluable tool for elucidating previously unknown and poorly understood metabolic processes within cells. By introducing clickable versions of substrates into cells, the products of these biomolecule mimics can be conveniently tracked via post-derivatization of the clickable tag with a variety of reporter groups. Here, we will describe lipid metabolic labeling as an invaluable approach for interrogating lipid metabolic pathways, which can yield crucial information regarding complex lipid biosynthesis and trafficking networks that can open new therapeutic targets involving downstream natural products. In this chapter, we present detailed experimental procedures for the development of clickable serine probes for the labeling of phosphatidylserine (PS) and other lipids, including probe design and synthesis as well as analysis of biological incorporation via confocal microscopy, thin-layer chromatography (TLC), and liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LCMS). This strategy provides a powerful approach for interrogating lipid biosynthetic pathways centered around PS.