Isolation of a new species of Physarum lysophosphatidic acid, PHYLPA, and its effect on DNA polymerase activity.

A new species of lysophosphatidic acid was isolated from myxoamoebae of a true slime mold, Physarum polycephalum, and structural studies were performed. The purified substance was subjected to nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), infrared spectroscopy (IR), fast atom bombardment mass spectroscopy (FAB/MS), alkaline hydrolysis and tandem mass spectroscopy (MS/MS), and the results suggested this substance to be lysophosphatidic acid composed of a cyclic phosphate and cis-11,12-methylene octadecanoic acid. The effects of the LPA on DNA polymerases were studied and compared with the effects of PHYLPA, which had been isolated as a specific inhibitor of eukaryotic DNA polymerase alpha (6). It showed a specific inhibitory activity on eukaryotic DNA polymerase alpha, but no activity on the repair-type, or mitochondrial DNA polymerases.