Phospholipase A2 : potential roles in native membrane fusion

Deepti Dabral, Jens R. Coorssen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Membrane fusion is a fundamental molecular mechanism by which two apposed membrane bilayers coalesce in rapid, transient steps that enable the successive merging of the outer and inner leaflets allowing lipid intermixing and subsequent mixing of the two previously separate compartments. The actual membrane merger mechanism – fusion, by definition – is conceptualized to be protein- or lipid-centric. According to the widely vetted stalk-pore hypothesis, membrane fusion proceeds via high curvature lipid intermediates. By cleaving membrane phospholipids at the sn-2 position, Phospholipase A2 generates metabolites that exert spontaneous curvature stress (both negative and positive) on the membrane, thus influencing local membrane bending by altering the packing and conformation of lipids and proteins, respectively. Such changes could potentially modulate priming and attachment/docking steps that precede fusion, as well as the membrane merger steps per se.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-5
Number of pages5
JournalInternational Journal of Biochemistry and Cell Biology
Volume85
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017

Keywords

  • arachidonic acid
  • membrane fusion
  • phospholipase A2

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