Ex vivo lipidomics reveal monoacylglycerols as substrates for a fatty acid amide hydrolase in the legume Medicago truncatula

FEBS Lett. 2024 Aug;598(15):1839-1854. doi: 10.1002/1873-3468.14944. Epub 2024 Jun 3.

Abstract

Fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) is a conserved hydrolase in eukaryotes with promiscuous activity toward a range of acylamide substrates. The native substrate repertoire for FAAH has just begun to be explored in plant systems outside the model Arabidopsis thaliana. Here, we used ex vivo lipidomics to identify potential endogenous substrates for Medicago truncatula FAAH1 (MtFAAH1). We incubated recombinant MtFAAH1 with lipid mixtures extracted from M. truncatula and resolved their profiles via gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Data revealed that besides N-acylethanolamines (NAEs), sn-1 or sn-2 isomers of monoacylglycerols (MAGs) were substrates for MtFAAH1. Combined with in vitro and computational approaches, our data support both amidase and esterase activities for MtFAAH1. MAG-mediated hydrolysis via MtFAAH1 may be linked to biological roles that are yet to be discovered.

Keywords: ex vivo; N‐acylethanolamines; fatty acid amide hydrolase; lipidomics; monoacylglycerols.

Publication types

  • Letter

MeSH terms

  • Amidohydrolases* / chemistry
  • Amidohydrolases* / genetics
  • Amidohydrolases* / metabolism
  • Ethanolamines / chemistry
  • Ethanolamines / metabolism
  • Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry
  • Hydrolysis
  • Lipidomics* / methods
  • Medicago truncatula* / enzymology
  • Medicago truncatula* / genetics
  • Medicago truncatula* / metabolism
  • Monoglycerides* / chemistry
  • Monoglycerides* / metabolism
  • Plant Proteins / chemistry
  • Plant Proteins / genetics
  • Plant Proteins / metabolism
  • Substrate Specificity

Substances

  • Amidohydrolases
  • fatty-acid amide hydrolase
  • Monoglycerides
  • Plant Proteins
  • Ethanolamines
  • N-acylethanolamines