Phospholipase A2 Biochemistry

The phospholipase A2 (PLA2) superfamily consists of many different groups of enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of the sn-2 ester bond in a variety of different phospholipids. The products of this reaction, a free fatty acid, and lysophospholipid have many different important physiological roles. There are five main types of PLA2: the secreted sPLA2’s, the cytosolic cPLA2’s, the Ca2+independent iPLA2’s, the PAF acetylhydrolases, and the lysosomal PLA2’s. This review focuses on the superfamily of PLA2 enzymes, and then uses three specific examples of these enzymes to examine the differing biochemistry of the three main types of these enzymes. These three examples are the GIA cobra venom PLA2, the GIVA cytosolic cPLA2, and the GVIA Ca2+-independent iPLA2.