Meta-Biol

• Pathways

Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) is a bioactive phospholipid. It consists of a single fatty acyl chain, a glycerol backbone and a free phosphate group. The acyl chain can be of varying length and degree of saturation hence many forms of LPA can exist. LPA is an important extracellular signalling molecule and an intermediate lipid in phospholipid metabolism inside the cell, playing an important role in modulating the structure and fluidity of lipid rafts. Degradation of LPA is important for termination of signalling and for the finetuning of lipid raft structure. Degradation of LPA can occur via either acylation or hydrolysis. Lysophosphatidic acid phosphatase type 6 (ACP6) can hydrolyse LPA of varying lengths. It is a monomeric enzyme located in mitochondria where it preferentially hydrolyses myristoyl LPA (C14:0) and other LPAs such as monounsaturated oleate (C18:1) or palmitate (C16:0) (latter two not shown here) (Hiroyama & Takenawa 1999, Li et al. 2013).