title: Phospholipase A2:Potential roles in native membrane fusion.
abstract: Membrane fusion is a fundamental molecular mechanism by which two apposed membrane bilayers coalesce in rapid, transient steps that enable the successive merging of the outer and inner leaflets allowing lipid intermixing and subsequent mixing of the two previously separate compartments. The actual membrane merger mechanism - fusion, by definition - is conceptualized to be protein- or lipid-centric. According to the widely vetted stalk-pore hypothesis, membrane fusion proceeds via high curvature lipid intermediates. By cleaving membrane phospholipids at the sn-2 position, Phospholipase A2generates metabolites that exert spontaneous curvature stress (both negative and positive) on the membrane, thus influencing local membrane bending by altering the packing and conformation of lipids and proteins, respectively. Such changes could potentially modulate priming and attachment/docking steps that precede fusion, as well as the membrane merger steps per se.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Physiology, and Molecular Medicine Research Group, School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Campbelltown Campus, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia.
authors.forename: Deepti
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dabral
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Graduate Studies and the Departments of Health Sciences and Biological Sciences, Brock University,St. Catharines, ON L2S 3A1, Canada. Electronic address: jcoorssen@brocku.ca.
authors.forename: Jens R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Coorssen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D008561:Membrane Fusion / Q000502:physiology*; D008563:Membrane Lipids / Q000378:metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological; D054467:Phospholipases A2 / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D008563:Membrane Lipids; D054467:Phospholipases A2
keywords: Arachidonic acid; Lyso-phosphatidylcholine; Membrane fusion; Phospholipase A(2)