Creative Enzymes is a leading company that offers high-quality bioanalytical services and custom contract research in enzyme activity analysis to serve the needs of our academic and industrial clients. Our passion for high quality and unique services is only exceeded by our excellent reputation in the marketplace. Herein, Creative Enzymes is proud to offer the reliable enzymatic assay for phospholipase D.

Phospholipase D (EC 3.1.4.4; PLD) is a ubiquitous enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of the phosphodiester bond of phospholipids (PLs) to generate phosphatidic acid (PA) and an alcohol moiety. In addition to the hydrolytic activity, PLD also catalyzes the interconversion of polar head groups of PLs, by a process called transphosphatidylation. Transphosphatidylation is particularly useful in the synthesis of naturally less abundant PLs, such as phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylserine (PS), and phosphatidylglycerol (PG) from highly abundant ones such as PC or lecithin. Synthesized PLs can be used as emulsifiers, components of cosmetics, in medical formulations, and for liposome preparations.

Figure 1: Reactions catalyzed by PLD. Hydrolysis (A) and transphosphatidylation (B). R₁ and R₂ denote alkyl chains of fatty acid residues, while X1 and X2 represent the polar head Groups.
Reference: Damnjanović J, Iwasaki Y. Journal of Bioscience & Bioengineering, 2013, 116(3):271-280.

PLD was first discovered in carrots and cabbage leaves in 1940’s. Hitherto, PLDs are found to exist in viruses, prokaryotic, as well as eukaryotic (mammals, yeasts, plants) organisms. The majority of the PLDs are members of so-called PLD superfamily which includes PLDs, cardiolipin synthases (CLS), phosphatidylserine synthases (PSS), poxvirus envelope proteins, a Yersinia murine toxin (Ymt), tyrosil-DNA phosphodiesterase and several nucleases. All PLD superfamily members contain one or two copies of the conserved HxKxxxxD motif (where x is any amino acid) This HKD motif, in particular the His residue, is of critical importance in the catalysis.

Functionally, PLDs may be useful as a tool in germplasm screening for drought tolerance. Besides, PLDs can be used for the production of octadecylphospho-L-serine, an alkylphosphate ester with anticancer activity. Moreover, PLDs also serve as a regulator of various critical cellular processes, such as the vesicle transport, endocytosis, exocytosis, and mitosis. The abnormalities in PLD expression have been associated with the progression of many different cancers, as well as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. Therefore, the significant utilization promotes a strong demand for monitoring the activities of PLDs.

Creative Enzymes is capable of providing the most accurate enzyme activity assays for PLDs. The spectrophotometric assay is considered to be the reliable and cost-effective method for measuring the activities of this enzyme. The quality of our results is ensured by the most advanced spectrophotometric instruments. Overall, Creative Enzymes is your best partner which is well known to provide the best customer satisfaction.

Figure 2: The crystal structure of phospholipase D from streptomyces antibioticus.
PDB: 2ZE4