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Palmitoylcarnitine Modulates Palmitoylation of Proteins: Implication for Differentiation of Neural Cells

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Abstract

[3H]Palmitic acid accumulates in neuroblastoma NB-2a cells, being incorporated in lipids (90%) and proteins (10%) fractions. Addition of palmitoylcarnitine, known to modulate activity of protein kinase C and to promote differentiation of neurons, was observed to decrease incorporation of palmitic acid to sphingomyelin, phosphatidylserine, and phosphatidylcholine, with a parallel increase of palmitic acid bound to proteins through a thioester bond (palmitoylation). In the presence of palmitoylcarnitine, one of the palmitoylated proteins expressed at growing neural cones, GAP-43, was observed to co-localize with caveolin-1, what was correlated with the beginning of differentiation. A new function of palmitoylcarnitine in controlling palmitoylation of proteins and their targeting to cholesterol-rich domains has been proposed.

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  1. Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, 3 Pasteur Street, 02-093, Warszawa, Poland

    Dorota Szczepankowska & Katarzyna A. Nałęcz

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  1. Dorota Szczepankowska
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Correspondence to Katarzyna A. Nałęcz.

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Szczepankowska, D., Nałęcz, K.A. Palmitoylcarnitine Modulates Palmitoylation of Proteins: Implication for Differentiation of Neural Cells. Neurochem Res 28, 645–651 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022802229921

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