Phospholipase
Overview
Phospholipid
Phospholipids are a class of lipids that are a major component of all cell membranes as they can form lipid bilayers. Most phospholipids contain a diglyceride, a phosphate group, and a simple organic molecule such as choline; one exception to this rule is sphingomyelin, which is derived from...
s into fatty acid
Fatty acid
In chemistry, especially biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid with a long unbranched aliphatic tail , which is either saturated or unsaturated. Most naturally occurring fatty acids have a chain of an even number of carbon atoms, from 4 to 28. Fatty acids are usually derived from...
s and other lipophilic
Lipophilic
Lipophilicity, , refers to the ability of a chemical compound to dissolve in fats, oils, lipids, and non-polar solvents such as hexane or toluene. These non-polar solvents are themselves lipophilic — the axiom that like dissolves like generally holds true...
substances. There are four major classes, termed A, B, C and D, distinguished by the type of reaction which they catalyze:
- Phospholipase A
- Phospholipase A1Phospholipase A1Phospholipase A1 is a phospholipase enzyme which removes the 1-acyl. Phospholipase A1 is a component of snake venom, but it also serves in normal metabolism to produce fatty acids from phospholipids. In melanocytic cells the Phospholipase A1 gene may be regulated by MITF.-External links:*...
- cleaves the SN-1 acyl chainFatty acidIn chemistry, especially biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid with a long unbranched aliphatic tail , which is either saturated or unsaturated. Most naturally occurring fatty acids have a chain of an even number of carbon atoms, from 4 to 28. Fatty acids are usually derived from...
. - Phospholipase A2Phospholipase A2Phospholipases A2 are enzymes that release fatty acids from the second carbon group of glycerol. This particular phospholipase specifically recognizes the sn-2 acyl bond of phospholipids and catalytically hydrolyzes the bond releasing arachidonic acid and lysophospholipids...
- cleaves the SN-2 acyl chainFatty acidIn chemistry, especially biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid with a long unbranched aliphatic tail , which is either saturated or unsaturated. Most naturally occurring fatty acids have a chain of an even number of carbon atoms, from 4 to 28. Fatty acids are usually derived from...
, releasing arachidonic acidArachidonic acidArachidonic acid is a polyunsaturated omega-6 fatty acid 20:4.It is the counterpart to the saturated arachidic acid found in peanut oil, Arachidonic acid (AA, sometimes ARA) is a polyunsaturated omega-6 fatty acid 20:4(ω-6).It is the counterpart to the saturated arachidic acid found in peanut oil,...
.
- Phospholipase A1
- Phospholipase BPhospholipase BPhospholipase B is an enzyme with a combination of both PLA1 and PLA2 activities; that is, it can cleave acyl chains from both the sn-1 and sn-2 positions of a phospholipid. In general, it acts on lysolecithin ....
- cleaves both SN-1 and SN-2 acyl chainFatty acidIn chemistry, especially biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid with a long unbranched aliphatic tail , which is either saturated or unsaturated. Most naturally occurring fatty acids have a chain of an even number of carbon atoms, from 4 to 28. Fatty acids are usually derived from...
s; this enzyme is also known as a lysophospholipase. - Phospholipase CPhospholipase CPhosphoinositide phospholipase C is a family of eukaryotic intracellular enzymes that play an important role in signal transduction processes. In general, this enzyme is denoted as Phospholipase C, although three other families of phospholipase C enzymes have been identified in bacteria and in...
- cleaves before the phosphate, releasing diacylglycerolDiglycerideA diglyceride, or a diacylglycerol , is a glyceride consisting of two fatty acid chains covalently bonded to a glycerol molecule through ester linkages....
and a phosphate-containing head group.
