Biosynthesis of an Unusual Phospholipid, N--Acyl-Phosphatidylethanolamine in Cotton Cotyledons

N--Acyl-phosphatidylethanolamine (NAPE)was first described from plants by Bomstein [1]. Further work on its occurrence and biosynthesis were discontinued when a similarly behaving compound was found to be an artifact of the extraction procedures and identified as N-methyl-phosphatidylethanolamine [2]. In 1991, however, Chapman and Trelease [3] noted a spot on thin-layer chromatograms of radiolabeled phospholipids from cotton cotyledons which was tentatively identified as NAPE In light of these results, we chose to examine the occurrence, structure and origin of the putative NAPE in more detail.