NOVEL PHOSPHONOGLYCOSPHINGOLIPIDS CONTAINING PYRUVYLATED GALACTOSE FROM THE NERVOUS-SYSTEM OF APLYSIA-KURODAI

We have reported the existence of a phosphonoglycosphingolipid containing a pyruvylated galactose, FGL-IIb, in nerve fibers of Aplysia kurodai (Araki, S., Abe, S., Ando, S., Kon, K., Fujiwara, N. & Satake, M. (1989) J. Biol. Chem. 264, 19922-19927). We have now isolated two other pyruvylated galactose-containing phosphonoglycosphingolipids, named FGL-V and FGL-IIa, from the nervous tissue of Aplysia, and characterized them as [3,4-O-(S-1-carboxyethylidene)]Gal-beta-1 --> 3GalNAc-alpha-1 -->3[6'-O-(2-aminoethylphosphonyl)Gal-alpha-1 --> 2](2-aminoethylphosphonyl --> 6) Gal-beta-1 --> 4Glc-beta-1 --> 1 ceramide and [3,4,O-(S-1-carboxyethylidene)]Gal-beta-1 --> 3GalNAc-alpha-1 --> 3[6'-O-(2-aminoethylphosphonyl)Gal-alpha-1 --> 2]Gal-beta-1 --> 4Glc-beta-11 --> ceramide, respectively. Their major aliphatic components are palmitic acid, octadeca-4-sphingenine and anteisononadeca-4-sphingenine. Thus, the nervous system of Aplysia contains several pyruvylated phosphonoglycolipids.