title: Effects of a methyl-deficient diet on rat liver phosphatidylcholine biosynthesis.
abstract: To produce a severe choline-methionine deficiency, a synthetic L-amino acid diet, free of choline, methionine, vitamin B12, and folic acid and supplemented with guanidoacetic acid, a methyl group acceptor, was fed to female rats for 2 weeks. The in vitro activity of liver microsomal phosphatidylethanolamine methyltransferase was stimulated twofold when compared with basal diet controls. The activity of choline phosphotransferase was depressed by 86%; thus, the contribution of the methyltransferase in the overall synthesis of phosphatidylcholine apparently increased. However, measurement of the in vivo methylation of phosphatidylethanolamine by incorporation of [1,2-14C]ethanolamine into phosphatidylcholine indicates that the methylation pathway is markedly depressed in methyl deficiency. Hepatic concentrations of the methyltransferase substrate, S-adenosylmethionine, and the inhibitory metabolite, S-adenosylhomocysteine, were significantly altered such that an unfavorable environment for methylation was present in the deficient animal. The ratio of substrate to inhibitor was depressed from 5.2:1 in the controls to 1.7:1 in the livers of methyl-depleted rats. Control of transmethylation in accordance with the availability of substrates, phosphatidylethanolamine, or S-adenosylmethionine, and the level of S-adenosylhomocysteine is discussed.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002796:Choline Deficiency / Q000378:metabolism*; D002798:Diacylglycerol Cholinephosphotransferase / Q000378:metabolism; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism*; D008715:Methionine / Q000172:deficiency*; D008745:Methylation; D008780:Methyltransferases / Q000378:metabolism; D010713:Phosphatidylcholines / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D050918:Phosphatidylethanolamine N-Methyltransferase; D010714:Phosphatidylethanolamines / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012435:S-Adenosylhomocysteine / Q000378:metabolism; D012436:S-Adenosylmethionine / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D010713:Phosphatidylcholines; D010714:Phosphatidylethanolamines; D012436:S-Adenosylmethionine; D012435:S-Adenosylhomocysteine; D008715:Methionine; D008780:Methyltransferases; D050918:Phosphatidylethanolamine N-Methyltransferase; D002798:Diacylglycerol Cholinephosphotransferase