Ceramides form the backbone of all sphingolipids, and they have emerged as important regulators and mediators of cellular stress responses. Recently, however, significant complexity has arisen in ceramide metabolism and biology. Therefore, the long-term goal of this proposal is to understand specific pathways of ceramide metabolism involved in cell stress responses. Recent work in our laboratory has focused on a newly identified family of enzymes; namely ceramide synthases (CerS), which demonstrate selective preferences for the fatty acyl chains that they incorporate into ceramide. In addition, very recent and exciting work in our laboratory using proteomic approaches has led us to discover CerS-interacting proteins, and one of the most credible and exciting of these proteins is the long chain fatty acyl CoA synthetase (ACSL5). In compelling preliminary data, we demonstrate that this interaction defines a novel pathway of ceramide metabolism by which ACSL5 provides the long chain fatty acids to acylate ceramides at the 1 position to generate O-acylceramides. We also demonstrate that this likely occurs by the diacylglycerol acyltransferase DGAT2. Evidence strongly suggests storage of O-acylceramides in lipid droplets (LD), and functionally, this causes sequestration of ceramide in a pool that is biologically inaccessible for regulation of cell death pathways. This proposal, therefore, addresses the hypothesis that Ceramide is metabolized to O-acylceramide by a previously unappreciated ACSL5/DGAT2 dependent mechanism and stored in LD and that this metabolic pathway is a key regulator of ceramide-mediated biologies. To test this hypothesis we propose the following specific aims:
Aim 1. Define a novel pathway of ceramide metabolism to O- acylceramide by ACSL5/DGAT2 dependent mechanism.
Aim 2. Define a role for O- acylceramides (in LD) in the regulation of ceramide-mediated responses.
Aim 3. Determine the mechanism of CerS/ACSL5 protein-protein interaction. Taken together these studies will uncover a novel ceramide metabolic pathway to O-acylceramide by ACSL5 and DGAT2 with important implications for cell regulation.

Public Health Relevance

This proposal seeks to uncover a novel metabolic pathway for ceramide to O- acylceramide by the addition of a fatty acid, and its consequent storage in lipid droplets within cells thus making it inaccessible for its biologic activity in cell stress response and cell death.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
3R01GM097741-18S2
Application #
9256827
Study Section
Biochemistry and Biophysics of Membranes Study Section (BBM)
Program Officer
Chin, Jean
Project Start
1998-07-01
Project End
2019-06-30
Budget Start
2015-08-01
Budget End
2016-06-30
Support Year
18
Fiscal Year
2016
Total Cost
$3,136
Indirect Cost
$1,151
Name
State University New York Stony Brook
Department
Internal Medicine/Medicine
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
804878247
City
Stony Brook
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
11794
Young, Pamela A; Senkal, Can E; Suchanek, Amanda L et al. (2018) Long-chain acyl-CoA synthetase 1 interacts with key proteins that activate and direct fatty acids into niche hepatic pathways. J Biol Chem 293:16724-16740
Newcomb, Benjamin; Rhein, Cosima; Mileva, Izolda et al. (2018) Identification of an acid sphingomyelinase ceramide kinase pathway in the regulation of the chemokine CCL5. J Lipid Res 59:1219-1229
Espaillat, Mel Pilar; Snider, Ashley J; Qiu, Zhijuan et al. (2018) Loss of acid ceramidase in myeloid cells suppresses intestinal neutrophil recruitment. FASEB J 32:2339-2353
Schwartz, Nicholas U; Linzer, Ryan W; Truman, Jean-Philip et al. (2018) Decreased ceramide underlies mitochondrial dysfunction in Charcot-Marie-Tooth 2F. FASEB J 32:1716-1728
Carroll, Brittany L; Bonica, Joseph; Shamseddine, Achraf A et al. (2018) A role for caspase-2 in sphingosine kinase 1 proteolysis in response to doxorubicin in breast cancer cells - implications for the CHK1-suppressed pathway. FEBS Open Bio 8:27-40
Trayssac, Magali; Hannun, Yusuf A; Obeid, Lina M (2018) Role of sphingolipids in senescence: implication in aging and age-related diseases. J Clin Invest 128:2702-2712
Snider, Justin M; Snider, Ashley J; Obeid, Lina M et al. (2018) Probing de novo sphingolipid metabolism in mammalian cells utilizing mass spectrometry. J Lipid Res 59:1046-1057
Pulkoski-Gross, Michael J; Jenkins, Meredith L; Truman, Jean-Philip et al. (2018) An intrinsic lipid-binding interface controls sphingosine kinase 1 function. J Lipid Res 59:462-474
Espaillat, Mel Pilar; Kew, Richard R; Obeid, Lina M (2017) Sphingolipids in neutrophil function and inflammatory responses: Mechanisms and implications for intestinal immunity and inflammation in ulcerative colitis. Adv Biol Regul 63:140-155
Dupre, Tess V; Doll, Mark A; Shah, Parag P et al. (2017) Inhibiting glucosylceramide synthase exacerbates cisplatin-induced acute kidney injury. J Lipid Res 58:1439-1452

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