Abstract
The biosynthesis of phosphatidylcholine(PC) by N-methylation of phosphatidylethanolamine(PE) is known for about 20 years (Bremer and Greenberg, 1961) however, only since recently we started to learn about the possible biological implications of this reaction. The finding that many signals acting on the cell surface, including hormones (Hirata et al. 1979a; Castaño et al. 1980; Alemany et al. 1981), attractants (Pike et al. 1979; Hirata et al. 1979b; Mato and Marín Cao, 1979; Alemany et al. 1980), immunoglobulins (Ishizaka et al. 1980) and phagocytizable particles (Garcia Gil et al. 1981a) modulate phospholipid methylation, suggests an important function for this process during signal transduction. In most cases the experimental approach has been to measure the incorporation of (methyl-3H) groups into PC during stimulation in cells prelabeled with (methyl-3H)-methiomine. In a few cases phospholipid methyltransferase activity has been measured during stimulation. Results from these experiments indicate that the enzyme phospholipid methyltransferase exists in different interconvertible stages of activity and that the interaction ligand-receptor switches the enzyme from one stage of activity to another. This essay summarizes our results with two different experimental systems: rat hepatocytes and human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN).
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References
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Mato, J.M., Alemany, S., Gil, M.G., Cao, D.M., Varela, I., Castaño, J.G. (1982). Receptor mediated regulation of phospholipid methyltransferase activity. In: Biochemistry of S-Adenosylmethionine and Related Compounds. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-06343-7_24
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-06343-7_24
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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