An enzymatic rationale for the randomization of the positional distribution of fatty acids in phospholipids of ascites hepatoma AH 130.

Fatty acids present in glycerophospholipids isolated from Yoshida ascites hepatoma AH 130 are more randomly distributed among the 1- and 2-positions than are fatty acids of normal liver phospholipids. The relative abundance of unsaturated fatty acids at the 1-position was ascribed to the lower palmitate-specific glycerophosphate acyltransferase activity in mitochondria of the hepatoma cells, an observation supporting the conclusion put forward for the similar randomization observed in Ehrlich ascites cells (Haldar, D., Tso, W.-W. and Pullman, M.E. (1979) J. Biol. Chem. 254, 4502-4509). The relative abundance of saturated fatty acids at the 2-position could be ascribed to the relatively lower acyl-CoA:1-acyl-glycerophosphocholine acyltransferase activity and to the change in the selectivity of the hepatoma acyl-CoA:1-acyl-glycerophosphate acyltransferase system into the lung type. The relatively lower selectivity for arachidonoyl-CoA as compared with oleoyl-CoA of the 1-acyl-glycerophosphocholine acyltransferase system is consistent with the decrease in polyenoic fatty acid content at the 2-position of the hepatoma phospholipids.