Structure
The phospholipid is composed of a choline head group and glycerophosphoric acid with a variety of fatty acids, one being a saturated fatty acid (in the example, here palmitic or hexadecanoic acid, H3C-(CH2)14-COOH; margaric acid identified by Gobley in egg yolk, or heptadecanoic acid H3C-(CH2)15-COOH, also belong to that class); and one being an unsaturated fatty acid (here oleic acid, or 9Z-octadecenoic acid, as in Gobley's original egg yolk lecithin).
Phospholipase D catalyzes the hydrolysis of phosphatidylcholine to form phosphatidic acid (PA), releasing the soluble choline headgroup into the cytosol.
Read more about this topic: Phosphatidylcholine
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