Phosphoinositides (PIPs) are key regulators of membrane traffic and signaling. The interconversion of PIPs by lipid kinases and phosphatases regulates their functionality. Phosphatidylinositol (PI) and PIPs have a unique enrichment of 1-stearoyl-2-arachidonyl acyl species; however, the regulation and function of this specific acyl profile remains poorly understood. We examined the role of the PI acyltransferase LYCAT in control of PIPs and PIPdependent membrane traffic. LYCAT silencing selectively perturbed the levels and localization of phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate [PI(4,5)P 2 ] and phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate and the membrane traffic dependent on these specific PIPs but was without effect on phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate or biosynthetic membrane traffic. The acyl profile of PI(4,5)P 2 was selectively altered in LYCAT-deficient cells, whereas LYCAT localized with phosphatidylinositol synthase. We propose that LYCAT remodels the acyl chains of PI, which is then channeled into PI(4,5)P 2 . Our observations suggest that the PIP acyl chain profile may exert broad control of cell physiology.
INTRODUCTIONPhosphoinositides (PIPs) control many facets of cell physiology, such as nutrient uptake, receptor signaling, and cell adhesion by control of specific stages of membrane traffic (Di Paolo and De Camilli, 2006;Krauss and Haucke, 2007). Through the action of lipid kinases and phosphatases, PIPs can be interconverted into seven different species defined by phosphorylation of the inositol head group (Balla, 2013). Each of the seven PIPs exhibits unique enrichment within membrane compartments and helps to recruit a variety of cognate effector proteins. Phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate (PI(4,5)P 2 ) and phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate (PI(3)P) illustrate these concepts well.PI(4,5)P 2 predominates within the plasma membrane (PM) and regulates clathrin-mediated endocytosis (referred to here as endocytosis) to control the internalization of cell surface proteins such as transferrin (Tfn) receptor (TfR;Jost et al., 1998;Varnai et al., 2006;Zoncu et al., 2007;Posor et al., 2013). PI(4,5)P 2 binds to and recruits AP2 and other proteins, which, together with cargo molecules and clathrin, initiate the formation and assembly of clathrin-coated pits (CCPs; Gaidarov and Keen, 1999;Itoh et al., 2001;Jackson et al., 2010). CCPs couple cargo selection to membrane invagination and eventually undergo scission from the PM by the GTPase dynamin2 to yield endocytic vesicles (Conner and Schmid, 2003;McMahon and Boucrot, 2011). CCPs harbor lipid phosphatases such as synaptojanins and OCRL that mediate PI(4,5)P 2 turnover to control the efficiency of vesicle formation (Antonescu et al., 2011) and, afterMonitoring Editor