Bifunctional N-Acylphosphatidylethanolamine

NAPE

Structure

 

(A) Native N-Acylphosphatidylethanolamine.

(A) Native N-Acylphosphatidylethanolamine.

(B) Bifunctional N-Acylphosphatidylethanolamine.

(B) Bifunctional N-Acylphosphatidylethanolamine.

Protein Interactome

Cell background: HeLa

Authors

Din-Chi Chiu, Hening Lin, Jeremy M. Baskin

Journal

ChemRΧiv

https://doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv-2025-j8nqz

Abstract

Most eukaryotic membranes comprise phospholipids bearing two hydrophobic tails, but N-acylphosphatidylethanolamine (NAPE) stands out as a long-known but poorly understood phospholipid with three hydrophobic groups. What little attention that NAPE has received has been devoted to understanding its metabolic functions as a precursor to N-acylethanolamines, bioactive lipids that act as endocannabinoids. Yet, levels of NAPE increase during myocardial infarction and ischemia, suggesting potential signaling roles for this lipid. Here, we exploit photoaffinity labeling (PAL) to identify NAPE-interacting proteins and elucidate signaling functions of NAPE. By positioning diazirine and alkyne groups in metabolically distinct regions of the NAPE molecule, we ensured that our PAL probe reported on interactions of NAPE and not NAE. Our studies identified several NAPE interactors, including two single-pass transmembrane proteins, CD147/Basigin and CD44, both of which serve as chaperones for monocarboxylate transporters (MCTs) from the SLC16A family that mediate lactate flux across the plasma membrane. Functional studies revealed that NAPE stimulates lactate efflux by MCTs dependent upon CD147 and CD44, establishing NAPE as a bona fide signaling lipid and pointing to potential physiological roles in metabolic and energy homeostasis that may be pathologically relevant in ischemia.

Lipid probes utilized

Bifunctional NAPE Bifunctional NAPE

Cell line analyzed

HeLa

Uncaging & Crosslinking timeline

Lipid Probe Uptake time Interaction time Crosslinking time
LEI-401 30 min 60 min 30 min

Mass spectrometry quantification method

SILAC

Additional sample preparation ?

Data visualization

Volcano plots depict the relative enrichment of each protein versus non-crosslinked control (x-axis, log2 transformed and median normalized) and the statistical significance of each protein following a Student’s t-test (y-axis, -log10 transformed). Black proteins are identified in only one replicate, Purple enriched candidates are defined as proteins identified in two replicates & fold-change > 1.5 (logFC 0.585) & pvalue < 0.01, and Orange enriched hits are defined as proteins identified in all three replicates & fold-change > 1.5 (logFC 0.585) & pvalue < 0.01).

Ranked-order plots depict the relative enrichment of each protein versus non-crosslinked control (y-axis) from lowest to highest. Black proteins are identified in only one replicate, Purple enriched candidates are defined as proteins identified in two replicates & fold-change > 1.5 (logFC 0.585) & pvalue < 0.01, and Orange enriched hits are defined as proteins identified in all three replicates & fold-change > 1.5 (logFC 0.585) & pvalue < 0.01).

MA plots depict the average abundance of each protein in the crosslinked and uncrosslinked conditions (x-axis) versus the log2-transformed fold-change between the crosslinked and uncrosslinked conditions (y-axis). Black proteins are identified in only one replicate, Purple enriched candidates are defined as proteins identified in two replicates & fold-change > 1.5 (logFC 0.585) & pvalue < 0.01, and Orange enriched hits are defined as proteins identified in all three replicates & fold-change > 1.5 (logFC 0.585) & pvalue < 0.01).

A Venn diagram depicts the overlapping identification of proteins between the three replicates. There are 88 proteins enriched uniquely in Replicate A, 75 proteins enriched uniquely in Replicate B, and 64 proteins enriched uniquely in Replicate C.

A Venn diagram depicts the overlapping identification of proteins between the three replicates. There are 88 proteins enriched uniquely in Replicate A, 75 proteins enriched uniquely in Replicate B, and 64 proteins enriched uniquely in Replicate C.

Data exploration and download