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Effect of Modification of Membrane Phospholipid Composition on Phospholipid Methylation in Aggregating Cell Culture
Author(s) -
Dainous Francine,
Kanfer Julian N.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
journal of neurochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.75
H-Index - 229
eISSN - 1471-4159
pISSN - 0022-3042
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-4159.1986.tb08505.x
Subject(s) - phospholipid , phosphatidylcholine , choline , phosphatidylethanolamine , biochemistry , methionine , ethanolamine , phosphatidyl choline , chemistry , cell culture , methylation , membrane , biology , amino acid , dna , genetics
The effect of the presence of nitrogenous bases in the growth medium of fetal rat brain aggregating cell cultures was investigated. The presence of either N ‐dimethylethanolamine (MME) or N,N ‐dimethylethanolamine (DME) in the growth medium resulted in significant increase of the corresponding phospholipid, phosphatidyl‐ N ‐monomethylethanolamine (PMME) or phosphatidyl‐ N,N ‐dimethylethanolamine (PDME). They represented 28% and 32% of the total phospholipids, respectively. The presence of the new phospholipids was accompanied by a significant decrease of phosphatidyl ethanolamine (PE) and phosphatidylcholine (PC). Cells grown in the presence of ethanolamine or choline had only barely detectable amounts of PMME and PDME. Intact cells previously grown with the bases were incubated with [ methyl ‐3 H]methionine. Incubation of cells previously grown in presence of the bases MME and DME resulted in a marked increase of radioactivity in the corresponding phospholipids possessing one additional methyl group, PDME and PC respectively. The incorporation of S‐adenosyl[ methyl −3 H]methionine (AdoMet) was examined in cell homogenates incubated in presence or absence of either PMME or PDME acceptors. The addition of these exogenous phospholipids caused a three or fourfold stimulation of radioactivity incorporated into the total phospholipids of cells grown in the absence of nitrogen bases. The cells grown in presence of either MME or DME in the culture medium did not show an increased incorporation of methyl groups from AdoMet into the total phospholipids after addition of exogenous acceptors. This work suggests that MME and DME incorporated into the corresponding phospholipids function as effective substrates for phospholipid‐ N ‐methylation.