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, 19 922–19 927). 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-carboxy-ethylidene)]Galβ1 3GalNAcα1 3[6′-O-(2-aminoethylphosphonyl)Galα1 2] (2-aminoethylphosphonyl 6) Galβ1 4Glcβ1 1 ceramide and [3,4,O-(S-1-carboxyethylidene)]Galβ1 3GalNAc α1 3[6′-O-(2-aminoethylphosphonyl)Galα1 2]Galβ1 4Glcβ11 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.