Phosphate Cytidylyltransferase 2, Ethanolamine (PCYT2)

Phosphatidylethanolamine (PtdEtn) is a major membrane phospholipid in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. In the PtdEtn biosynthetic pathway, the enzyme CTP-phosphoethanolamine cytidylyltransferase (ET) catalyzes the formation of CDP-ethanolamine from ethanolamine.

Expression of PCYT2 in yeast ect1 mutants restored ET activity. The sequence of the predicted 389-amino acid PCYT2 protein is 36% identical to that of the yeast ECT1 gene product. Northern blot analysis revealed that PCYT2 is expressed as an approximately 2-kb mRNA in various tissues, with the strongest expression in liver, heart, and skeletal muscle.