Phospholipids as signaling molecules
Phospholipids form biomembranes and are converted into metabolites, such as lysophospholipids, diacylglycerols, and phosphoinositides, which participate in cell signaling and cause diseases when dysregulated. Each phospholipid class consists of hundreds of molecular species with varying fatty acid combination. How this diversity influences cell signaling is poorly understood. Our functional lipidomics approach gives access to phospholipid profiles, which we specifically manipulate to explore the physiological and pharmacological functions of individual species. We search for renewable natural sources of minor phospholipids. Moreover, we address the delivery of phospholipids to target sites in collaboration with pharmaceutical technologists and investigate their potential for pharmacotherapy, with focus on stress-adaption and overcoming tumor resistance.
Team: Leonhard Beireuter, Zhigang Rao, Julia Grander, Finja Witt
Subprojects
- Functional lipidomics for the elucidation of bioactive lipids in the regulation of stress-adaptive and immune regulatory signaling pathways
- Stearoyl-CoA-desaturase-1-derived phosphatidylinositols linking fatty acid biosynthesis with stress adaption
- Potential of algal phosphatidylcholines containing ω3 fatty acids in the supportive therapy of leukemia and lymphoma
