Substrate Specificity of Cabbage Phospholipase D with Phospholipids Having Different Head Groups

A substrate specificity of cabbage phospholipase D (PLD) was studied using the synthetic phospholipids having different head groups. The phospholipids were synthesized from phosphatidylcholine and appropriate bases by transphosphatidylation of PLD. The bases used were ethanolamine, serine, ethanol and γ-hydroxybutyric acid. The phosphatidic acid, the product of PLD, was separated in TLC and measured densitometrically. The kinetic parameters were estimated for each substrate and the effects of pH, SDS, Ca2+ and other metal ions were examined. Vmax values found were 3.75, 2.36, 5.59, 1.63, 2.30 nmol/min/μg protein for phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylserine, phosphatidylethanol, and phosphatidylburytic acid, respectively. These results indicate a broad specificity of cabbage PLD toward phospholipids with different head groups. Particularly phosphatidylserine was most easily hydrolyzed by PLD and its activity did not depend on Ca2+.