Functional roles of the lipid second messenger metabolizing enzyme family

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24390044
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: General anatomy (including Histology/Embryology)
• Research Institution: Yamagata University
• Principal Investigator: Goto Kaoru 山形大学, 医学部, 教授 (30234975)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): FUJII SATOSHI 山形大学, 医学部, 教授 (80173384) ; HOZUMI YASUKAZU 山形大学, 医学部, 准教授 (00372334) ; NAKANO TOMOYUKI 山形大学, 医学部, 助教 (00333948) ; TANAKA TOSHIAKI 山形大学, 医学部, 助教 (70536987)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: リン脂質代謝 / 細胞内局在 / 炎症応答 / 小胞体 / 免疫電顕

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Membrane lipid turnover generates diacylglycerol (DG), which serves not only as a second messenger but also as an intermediate product of lipid metabolism. DG kinase (DGK) is an enzyme that phosphorylates DG to phosphatidic acid. This enzymatic reaction occurs ubiquitously in cells, although much of the functional role remains undetermined. In this study, we found the following results: 1) downregulation of DGKzeta upregulates an activity of the major inflammatory transcription factor NFkB, thereby enhancing an inflammatory reaction. 2) By immunogold electron microscopy, DGKepsilon is localized to the smooth endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of cerebellar Purkinje cells. 3) Three leucine residues, Leu22, L25 and L29, which form a hydrophobic patch in the N-terminus, play a necessary role in targeting of DGKepsilon to the ER.

Free Research Field

解剖学