Phosphatidylethanolamine deficiency in mammalian cells

• Main Author: Bai, Helin Daniel
• Other Authors: Vance, Jean (Medicine)
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: Mitochondria; Phosphatidylserine; Phosphatidylethanolamine; Chinese Hamster Ovary; Phosphatidylserine decarboxylase
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10048/1388

Almost all mammalian cells contain energy-producing organelles called mitochondria. Phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) is a phospholipid which has been implicated to be important for mitochondrial function. The majority of mitochondrial PE is synthesized in mitochondria using the phosphatidylserine decarboxylase (PSD) pathway. To test the hypothesis that PE made from the PSD pathway is required for mitochondrial function, three Chinese Hamster Ovary Cell lines with different PSD-pathway defects were studied. These three cell lines referred to as PSB-2, R-41, and PSD knockdown cells all had ~35% reductions in mitochondrial PE levels compared to the parental cell line. As a result, the mitochondria from all three cell lines have abnormally high sedimentation densities and increased membrane potentials. However, the energy production, motility, and morphologies of each type of mutant mitochondria were each distinctly different from their parental cell line. === Experimental Medicine