The activities of the phospholipase C gamma (PLCγ) 1 and 2 enzymes are essential for numerous cellular processes. Unsurprisingly, dysregulation of PLCγ1 or PLCγ2 activity is associated with multiple maladies including immune disorders, cancers, and neurodegenerative diseases. Therefore, the modulation of either of these two enzymes has been suggested as a therapeutic strategy to combat these diseases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA rare coding variant in PLCγ2 (P522R) expressed in microglia induces a mild activation of enzymatic activity when compared to wild-type. This mutation is reported to be protective against the cognitive decline associated with late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD) and therefore, activation of wild-type PLCγ2 has been suggested as a potential therapeutic target for the prevention and treatment of LOAD. Additionally, PLCγ2 has been associated with other diseases such as cancer and some autoimmune disorders where mutations with much greater increases in PLCγ2 activity have been identified.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhosphatidylinositol-5-phosphate (PI5P) is a low abundance lipid proposed to have functions in cell migration, DNA damage responses, receptor trafficking and insulin signalling in metazoans. However, studies of PI5P function are limited by the lack of scalable techniques to quantify its level from cells and tissues in multicellular organisms. Currently, PI5P measurement requires the use of radionuclide labelling approaches that are not easily applicable in tissues or in vivo samples.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-trisphosphate (PIP) generation at the plasma membrane is a key event during activation of receptor tyrosine kinases such as the insulin receptor required for normal growth and metabolism. We report that in Drosophila, phosphatidylinositol 5 phosphate 4-kinase (PIP4K) is required to limit PIP levels during insulin receptor activation. Depletion of PIP4K increases the levels of PIP produced in response to insulin stimulation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhosphatidylinositol 5 phosphate 4-kinase (PIP4K) are enzymes that catalyse the phosphorylation of phosphatidylinositol 5-phosphate (PI5P) to generate PI(4,5)P Mammalian genomes contain three genes, and and murine knockouts for these suggested important physiological roles The proteins encoded by and show widely varying specific activities ; PIP4K2A is highly active and PIP4K2C 2000-times less active, and the relationship between this biochemical activity and function is unknown. By contrast, the genome encodes a single PIP4K (dPIP4K) that shows high specific activity and loss of this enzyme results in reduced salivary gland cell size We find that the kinase activity of dPIP4K is essential for normal salivary gland cell size Despite their highly divergent specific activity, we find that all three mammalian PIP4K isoforms are able to enhance salivary gland cell size in the PIP4K null mutant implying a lack of correlation between activity measurements and function. Further, the kinase activity of PIP4K2C, reported to be almost inactive , is required for function.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProtein phosphorylation is an important post-translational modification that can regulate the protein function. The current knowledge on the phosphorylation status of plant oil body (OB) proteins is inadequate. This present study identifies the distinct physiological substrates of Arabidopsis serine/threonine/tyrosine protein kinase (STYK) and its role in seed oil accumulation; the role of Arabidopsis OLE1, a major seed OB protein has also been elucidated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhospholipases play a vital role in maintaining membrane phospholipids. In this study, we found that deletion of the three major phospholipases B in Saccharomyces cerevisiae did not affect the hydrolysis of phospholipids, thus suggesting the presence of other, as yet unidentified, phospholipases. Indeed, in silico analysis of the S.
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