Comprehensive search for novel phospholipids and elucidation of their functions

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 22K19287
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 43:Biology at molecular to cellular levels, and related fields
• Research Institution: Tokyo Medical and Dental University
• Principal Investigator: Hasegawa Junya 東京医科歯科大学, 難治疾患研究所, 助教 (00533788)
• Project Period (FY): 2022-06-30 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: リン脂質 / 質量分析

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Phospholipids have fatty acids at the sn-1 and sn-2 positions of the glycerol backbone, and a characteristic polar group at the sn-3 position. The variety of polar groups in phospholipids is extremely limited, including choline and serine. The reason for this is that lipids are not encoded by genes.
I have already developed a novel method to search for unknown lipids. I have already identified four new phospholipids by my original method. During the period of this study, we attempted to further identify novel phospholipids, but this has not yet been done because I am still in the reviewing stage. In the future, I will accelerate the identification of new lipids as well as the clarification of their functions.

Free Research Field

脂質生物学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

リン脂質は細胞膜を構成する主要因子であり、細胞・オルガネラの形や固さを制御しているだけでなく、膜を起点とした様々シグナル伝達に寄与している。細胞内外で多彩な機能を担っているリン脂質だが、その特徴的な極性基に関して、わずか数種類しか知られていない。申請者は、細胞は多くの種類の極性基を持つリン脂質が存在するはずと想定し、質量分析技術を利用した新規リン脂質の探索を開始した。その結果、幾つかの新規リン脂質を発見できた。この発見により、遺伝子・タンパク質から解析不可能だった、新しい生理現象の解明に繋がるだけでなく、脂質の変化により引き起こされる各種疾患発症機構の解明並びにその創薬標的の提示に貢献できる。