Jm. Sugars et al., Fatty acylation of phospholipase D1 on cysteine residues 240 and 241 determines localization on intracellular membranes, J BIOL CHEM, 274(42), 1999, pp. 30023-30027
We have reported previously that phospholipase D1 (PLD1) is labeled specifi
cally with [H-3]palmitate following transient expression and immunoprecipit
ation and that this modification appeared important both for membrane local
ization and catalytic activity, In this work we identify by mutagenesis tha
t the acylation sites on PLD1 are cysteine residues 240 and 241, with the c
ysteine at position 241 accounting for most but not all of the modification
, Replacement of both cysteine residues with either serines or alanines res
ulted in a mutant protein that contained undetectable [H-3]palmitate. In co
mparison with the wild type protein, the double mutant showed reduced catal
ytic activity in vivo, whereas its activity in vitro was unchanged. In addi
tion, the localization of the double mutant was altered in comparison with
the wild type protein, whereas wild type PLD1 is primarily on intracellular
membranes and on punctate structures, the double mutant was on plasma memb
rane. Because cysteines 240 and 241 lie within a putative pleckstrin homolo
gy domain of PLD1, it is likely that fatty acylation on these residues modu
lates the function of the PLD1 pleckstrin homology domain.