Phospholipase D (EC 3.1.4.4, lipophosphodiesterase II, lecithinase D, choline phosphatase, PLD; systematic name phosphatidylcholine phosphatidohydrolase) is an enzyme of the phospholipase superfamily that catalyses the formation of choline from phosphatidyl-choline. Phospholipases occur widely, and can be found in a wide range of organisms, including bacteria, yeast, plants, animals, and viruses. Phospholipase D's principal substrate is phosphatidylcholine, which it hydrolyzes to produce the signal molecule phosphatidic acid (PA), and soluble choline in a cholesterol dependent process called substrate presentation. Plants contain numerous genes that encode various PLD isoenzymes, with molecular weights ranging from 90 to 125 kDa. Mammalian cells encode two isoforms of phospholipase D: PLD1 and PLD2. Phospholipase D is an important player in many physiological processes, including membrane trafficking, cytoskeletal reorganization, receptor-mediated endocytosis, exocytosis, and cell migration. Strictly speaking, phospholipase D is a transphosphatidylase: it mediates the exchange of polar headgroups covalently attached to membrane-bound lipids. Utilizing water as a nucleophile, this enzyme catalyzes the cleavage of the phosphodiester bond in structural phospholipids such as phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine. Here you can see a crystal structure of the phospholipase D from the bacterium Moritella sp (PDB code: 7WU1)

#molecularart ... #immolecular ... #phospholipase ... #moritella ... #xray

Structure rendered with @proteinimaging and depicted with @corelphotopaint