In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the mineral zinc is essential for growth and metabolism. Depletion of zinc from the growth medium of wild type cells results in changes in phospholipid metabolism, including an increase in phosphatidylinositol content (Iwanyshyn, W. M., Han, G.-S., and Carman, G. M. (2004) J. Biol. Chem. 279, 21976-21983). We examined the effects of zinc depletion on the r...

The binding of polyphosphoinositides (phosphatidylinositol phosphate and phosphatidylinositol bisphosphate) to the antibiotic neomycin is utilized for the purification of these lipids. Neomycin is reductively coupled to reactive glass beads (Glycophase-CPG) and serves as the stationary phase in column chromatography. A total lipid extract is prepared from tissues with chloroform-methanol-KC1 or...

Phosphatidylinositol is critical for intracellular signalling and anchoring of carbohydrates and proteins to outer cellular membranes. The defining step in phosphatidylinositol biosynthesis is catalysed by CDP-alcohol phosphotransferases, transmembrane enzymes that use CDP-diacylglycerol as donor substrate for this reaction, and either inositol in eukaryotes or inositol phosphate in prokaryotes...

The purpose of this study was to determine whether cyclic guanosine monophosphate inhibits contraction through inhibition of phosphatidylinositol hydrolysis. Sodium nitroprusside and atriopeptin II, agents which activate soluble and particulate guanylate cyclase, respectively, inhibited norepinephrine-induced contraction and accumulation of inositol monophosphate, a measure of phosphatidylinosi...

The soluble activity in lymphocytes which converts phosphatidylinositol into 1,2-diacylglycerol and inositol phosphates requires Ca(2+) ions. At pH7 maximum activity occurs at [Ca(2+)](free) approximately 0.7mum whereas at pH5.5 the equivalent value is approx. 50mum. At [Ca(2+)](free) approximately 1mum, a concentration similar to common intracellular values, essentially all activity is confine...