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Metabolism and Enzymology

Phosphatidylcholine Synthesis

Differing Patterns in Soybean and Carrot

Laboratory of General and Comparative Biochemistry, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892

The methylation steps in the biosynthesis of phosphatidylcholine by tissue culture preparations of carrot (Daucus carota L.) and soybean (Glycine max), and by soybean leaf discs, have been studied. Preparations were incubated with tracer concentrations of L-[³H₃C]methionine and the kinetics of appearance of radioactivity in phosphomethylethanolamine, phosphodimethylethanolamine, phosphocholine, phosphatidylmethylethanolamine, phosphatidyldimethylethanolamine, phosphatidylcholine, methylethanolamine, dimethylethanolamine, and choline followed at short incubation times. With soybean (tissue culture or leaves), an initial methylation utilizes phosphoethanolamine as substrate, forming phosphomethylethanolamine. The latter is converted to phosphatidylmethylethanolamine, which is successively methylated to phosphatidyldimethyethanolamine and to phosphatidylcholine. With carrot, again, an initial methylation is of phosphoethanolamine. Subsequent methylations occur at both the phospho-base and phosphatidyl-base levels. Both of these patterns differ qualitatively from that previously demonstrated in Lemna (SH Mudd, AH Datko 1986 Plant Physiol 82: 126-135) in which all three methylations occur at the phospho-base level. For soybean and carrot, some added contribution from initial methylation of phosphatidylethanolamine has not been excluded. These results, together with those from similar experiments carried out with water-stressed barley leaves (WD Hitz, D Rhodes, AD Hanson 1981 Plant Physiol 68: 814-822) and salinized sugarbeet leaves (AD Hanson, D Rhodes 1983 Plant Physiol 71: 692-700) suggest that in higher plants some, perhaps all, phosphatidylcholine synthesis occurs via a common committing step (conversion of phosphoethanolamine to phosphomethylethanolamine) followed by a methylation pattern which differs from plant to plant.

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