Journal of Molecular Endocrinology (2009) 42 469-478 DOI: 10.1677/JME-09-0010
© 2009 Society for Endocrinology
Functional characterization of the human 1-acylglycerol-3-phosphate-O-acyltransferase isoform 10/glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase isoform 3
Suja Sukumaran1,
Robert I Barnes2,
Abhimanyu Garg1 and
Anil K Agarwal1
1 Division of Nutrition and Metabolic Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine and Center for Human Nutrition2 McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, Texas 75390, USA
(Correspondence should be addressed to A K Agarwal; Email: anil.agarwal{at}utsouthwestern.edu)
(S Sukumaran is now at Shimadzu Scientific Instruments, 7102 Riverwood Drive, Columbia, Maryland 21046, USA)
Synthesis of phospholipids can occur de novo or via remodeling of the existing phospholipids. Synthesis of triglycerides, a form of energy storage in cells, is an end product of these pathways. Several 1-acylglycerol-3-phosphate-O-acyltransferases (AGPATs) acylate lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) at the sn-2 (carbon 2) position to produce phosphatidic acid (PA). These enzymes are involved in phospholipids and triglyceride synthesis through an evolutionary conserved process involving serial acylations of glycerol-3-phosphate. We cloned a cDNA predicted to be an AGPAT isoform (AGPAT10). This cDNA has been recently identified as glycerol-3-phosphate-O-acyltransferase isoform 3 (GPAT3). When this AGPAT10/GPAT3 cDNA was expressed in Chinese Hamster ovary cells, the protein product localizes to the endoplasmic reticulum. In vitro enzymatic activity using lysates of human embryonic kidney-293 cells infected with recombinant AGPAT10/GPAT3 adenovirus show that the protein has a robust AGPAT activity with an apparent Vmax of 2 nmol/min per mg protein, but lacks GPAT enzymatic activity. This AGPAT has similar substrate specificities for LPA and acyl-CoA as shown for another known isoform, AGPAT2. We further show that when overexpressed in human Huh-7 cells depleted of endogenous AGPAT activity by sh-RNA-AGPAT2-lentivirus, the protein again demonstrates AGPAT activity. These observations strongly suggest that the cDNA previously identified as GPAT3 has AGPAT activity and thus we prefer to identify this clone as AGPAT10 as well.
Copyright © 2009 by the Society for Endocrinology.