Metabolic fate of 3,4-dihydroxybutyl-1-phosphonate in Escherichia coli

3,4-Dihydroxy[3-(3)H]butyl-1-phosphonate, and analogue of glycerol 3-phosphate, is incorporated into a very polar lipid material by cultures of Escherichia coli strain 8 and in vitro by CDP-diglyceride:sn-glycerol-3-phosphate phosphatidyltransferase. These labeled lipids have been fractionated by column chromatography on DEAE-cellulose, revealing that only one labeled compound is formed in vitro, while four are synthesized in vivo. The main component of the material formed by intact cells has been shown to be identical with that produced enzymatically. This species has been identified as the phosphonic acid analogue of phosphatidylglycerophosphate [(1,2-diacyl)-sn-glyceryl-D-4'-phosphoryloxy-3'-hydroxybutyl-1'-phosphonate]. Hydrolysis of this novel lipid with phospholipase C resulted in the production of diglyceride and a water-soluble derivative of 3,4-dihydroxybutyl-1-phosphonate and inorganic phosphate in a molar ratio of 1.03/1. Enzymatic analysis of the phosphonate liberated in this manner showed it to be the D enantiomer, thereby confirming the proposed structure of the lipid analogue. The analogue of phosphatidylglycerophosphate did not turn over and appeared to have no precursor-product relationship to the other labeled lipids derived from 3,4-dihydroxy[3-(3)H]butyl-1-phosphonate in vivo. Analysis of the other three labeled products revealed the tritium to be present on glycerol 3-phosphate and not intact phosphonate, indicating some metabolic degradation of the latter. Examination of cell components other than lipids revealed little incorporation of label, while a significant amount of tritium was found to be present in a distillable form, 3H2O. Experiments with mutants of E. coli lacking the known glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenases indicated that these enzymes are not responsible for the removal of tritium from from 3,4-dihydroxy[3-(3)H]butyl-1-phosphonate in vivo. Indirect evidence suggests that the inhibition of cell growth by this analogue is not due to its catabolic products.