The formation of tritiated O-alkyl lipid from acyldihydroxyacetone phosphate in the presence of tritiated water.

Previous studies from this laboratory on the mechanism of O-alkyl bond formation using a microsomal system from Tetrahymena pyriformis have shown that O-alkyl lipid synthesized from dihydroxyacetone phosphate has exchanged one hydrogen stereospecifically from the 1-sn position of the glycerol moiety. Indirect evidence suggested that acyldihydroxyacetone phosphate, an intermediate in )-alkyl lipid synthesis, is probably not the locus of the exchange. In the present study in was shown that stable acyldihydroxyacetone phosphate incubated in the presence of tritiated water and Tetrahymena microsomes does not become tritiated. When hexadecanol is added to the system O-alkyl lipid is produced which has incorporated one atom of hydrogen for each mole of hexadecanol at all time periods examined. Experiments in Ehrlich ascites tumor cells have shown that the hydrogen exchange also occurs in a mammalian system. The results indicate that the mechanism of O-alkyl lipid ether bond formation involves a hydrogen exchange and that this exchange occurs after the formation of acyldihydroxyacetone phosphate.