Multiple factors influence the binding of a soluble, Ca2+-independent, diacylglycerol kinase to unilamellar phosphoglyceride vesicles.

We studied the influence of membrane lipids, MgCl2, and ATP on the ability of a soluble diacylglycerol kinase to bind to 100-nm lipid vesicles. The enzyme did not bind detectably to vesicles that contained phosphatidylcholine alone or to vesicles that contained 50 mol % phosphatidylcholine + 50 mol % phosphatidylethanolamine. But it did bind to vesicles that contained anionic phosphoglycerides, and maximal binding occurred (in the presence of MgCl2) when the vesicles contained anionic phosphoglycerides alone. When increasing amounts of phosphatidylcholine were included in phosphatidylserine-containing vesicles, enzyme binding to the vesicles decreased by as much as 1000-fold. However, when increasing amounts of phosphatidylethanolamine were included in phosphatidylserine-containing vesicles, little change in binding occurred until the concentration of phosphatidylserine was reduced to below 25 mol %. These results and results obtained with vesicles that contained various mixtures of anionic phosphoglycerides, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, and unesterified cholesterol provided evidence that anionic phosphoglycerides were positive effectors of binding, phosphatidylcholine was a negative effector, and phosphatidylethanolamine and unesterified cholesterol were essentially neutral diluents. Other experiments showed that diacylglycerol and some of its structural analogues also were important, positive effectors of enzyme binding and that addition of ATP to the medium increased their effects. The combined results of the study suggest that the enzyme may bind to vesicles via at least two types of binding sites: one type that requires anionic phospholipids and is enhanced by Mg2+ but inhibited by phosphatidylcholine, and one type that requires diacylglycerol and is enhanced by ATP.