TY - JOUR
T1 - Lantibiotics as probes for phosphatidylethanolamine
AU - Zhao, Ming
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding support from the National Institutes of Health is gratefully acknowledged.
PY - 2011/11
Y1 - 2011/11
N2 - Phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) is a major component in the mammalian plasma membrane. It is present mainly in the inner leaflet of the membrane bilayer in a viable, typical mammalian cell. However, accumulating evidence indicates that a number of biological events involve PE externalization. For instance, PE is concentrated at the surface of cleavage furrow between mitotic daughter cells and is correlated with the dynamics of contractile ring. In apoptotic cells, PE is exposed to the cell surface, thus providing a molecular marker for detection. In addition, PE is a cofactor in the anticoagulant mechanism, and a distinct distribution profile of PE has been documented at the blood-endothelium interface. These recent discoveries were made possible using PE-specific probes derived from duramycin and cinnamycin, which are members of type B lantibiotics. This review provides an account on the features of these PE-specific lantibiotics in the context of molecular probes for the characterization of PE on a cellular and tissue level. According to the existing data, PE is likely a versatile chemical species that plays a role in the regulation of defined biological and physiological activities. The utilities of lantibiotic-based molecular probes will help accelerate the characterization of PE as an abundant, yet elusive membrane component.
AB - Phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) is a major component in the mammalian plasma membrane. It is present mainly in the inner leaflet of the membrane bilayer in a viable, typical mammalian cell. However, accumulating evidence indicates that a number of biological events involve PE externalization. For instance, PE is concentrated at the surface of cleavage furrow between mitotic daughter cells and is correlated with the dynamics of contractile ring. In apoptotic cells, PE is exposed to the cell surface, thus providing a molecular marker for detection. In addition, PE is a cofactor in the anticoagulant mechanism, and a distinct distribution profile of PE has been documented at the blood-endothelium interface. These recent discoveries were made possible using PE-specific probes derived from duramycin and cinnamycin, which are members of type B lantibiotics. This review provides an account on the features of these PE-specific lantibiotics in the context of molecular probes for the characterization of PE on a cellular and tissue level. According to the existing data, PE is likely a versatile chemical species that plays a role in the regulation of defined biological and physiological activities. The utilities of lantibiotic-based molecular probes will help accelerate the characterization of PE as an abundant, yet elusive membrane component.
KW - Anticoagulant
KW - Apoptosis
KW - Cinnamycin
KW - Cytokinesis
KW - Duramycin
KW - Imaging probe
KW - Phosphatidylethanolamine
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U2 - 10.1007/s00726-009-0386-9
DO - 10.1007/s00726-009-0386-9
M3 - Review article
C2 - 21573677
AN - SCOPUS:84855230886
VL - 41
SP - 1071
EP - 1079
JO - Amino Acids
JF - Amino Acids
SN - 0939-4451
IS - 5
ER -