title: Caveolar fatty acids and acylation of caveolin-1.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Caveolae are cholesterol and sphingolipids rich subcellular domains on plasma membrane. Caveolae contain a variety of signaling proteins which provide platforms for signaling transduction. In addition to enriched with cholesterol and sphingolipids, caveolae also contain a variety of fatty acids. It has been well-established that acylation of protein plays a pivotal role in subcellular location including targeting to caveolae. However, the fatty acid compositions of caveolae and the type of acylation of caveolar proteins remain largely unknown. In this study, we investigated the fatty acids in caveolae and caveolin-1 bound fatty acids.
  
  
  METHODS
  Caveolae were isolated from Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. The caveolar fatty acids were extracted with Folch reagent, methyl esterificated with BF3, and analyzed by gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC/MS). The caveolin-1 bound fatty acids were immunoprecipitated by anti-caveolin-1 IgG and analyzed with GC/MS.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In contrast to the whole CHO cell lysate which contained a variety of fatty acids, caveolae mainly contained three types of fatty acids, 0.48 µg palmitic acid, 0.61 µg stearic acid and 0.83 µg oleic acid/caveolae preparation/5 × 10(7) cells. Unexpectedly, GC/MS analysis indicated that caveolin-1 was not acylated by myristic acid; instead, it was acylated by palmitic acid and stearic acid.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Caveolae contained a special set of fatty acids, highly enriched with saturated fatty acids, and caveolin-1 was acylated by palmitic acid and stearic acid. The unique fatty acid compositions of caveolae and acylation of caveolin-1 may be important for caveolae formation and for maintaining the function of caveolae.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington, Kentucky, USA.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Haiqing
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Xiang-An
authors.initials: XA
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000215:Acylation; D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western; D016466:CHO Cells; D021941:Caveolae / Q000737:chemistry*; D051242:Caveolin 1 / Q000378:metabolism*; D006224:Cricetinae; D003412:Cricetulus; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000032:analysis*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D047468:Immunoprecipitation
chemical_list: D051242:Caveolin 1; D005227:Fatty Acids