Biosynthesis of 1,2-dieicosapentaenoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine in Caenorhabditis elegans

Previously, we showed that lowering the growth temperature increased the level of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) in the phosphatidylcholine (PtdCho) of Caenorhabditis elegans. In this study, we investigated the molecular species composition of PtdCho of C. elegans, with an emphasis on EPA-containing species. C. elegans contained a substantial amount of 1,2-dipolyunsaturated fatty acid-containing PtdCho (1,2-diPUFA-PtdCho) species, such as arachidonic acid/EPA and EPA/EPA, which are unusual phospholipids in higher animals. The EPA/EPA-PtdCho content was significantly increased in C. elegans grown at a low temperature. To examine the possibility that the acyltransferase activity involved in the remodeling of phospholipids accounts for the production of 1,2-diPUFA-PtdCho, we investigated the substrate specificity of this enzyme in C. elegans and found that it did not exhibit a preference for saturated fatty acid for acylation to the sn-l position of PtdCho. The efficacy of the esterification of EPA to the sn-l position was almost equal to that of stearic acid. The lack of preference for a saturated fatty acid for acylation to the sn-l position of PtdCho is thought to result in the existence of the unusual 1,2-diEPA-PtdCho in C. elegans.