DOLICHOLS AND POLYPRENOLS;
ELEMENTS OF MEMBRANES,
COENZYMES AND
SECONDARY METABOLITES TADEUSZ CHOJNACKI, WIESLAW JANKOWSKI and EWA SWIEZEWSKA.
Linear polymers of isoprene units are known mainly as natural rubber of molecular weight exceeding
400.000. These substances are characteristic for a number of plants. Similar linear polymers of molecular
weight around 1000-3000 have been found in various organisms, plants, bacteria and animals. They are
classified as lipids, though they cover a wide range of substances of different hydrophobicity. The slight
difference between dolichols and polyprenols consists in that in dolichols the OH-terminal isoprene residue
is saturated [1, 2].
There is a number of examples of dolichols or polyprenols playing a role of lipid coenzymes in the
biosynthesis of sugar heteropolymers and glycoproteins. The size of the most common polyisoprenoids
involved in transglycosylations is either 10-11 or 17-20 isoprene residues. Here the amounts of
polyisoprenoid derivatives are within the range of rather low concentrations characteristic for coenzymes.
Such low amounts of these substances though may change the structure of lipid membrane [3].
Dolichols and polyprenols occur in living organisms also as secondary metabolites. Several plant species
were found to accumulate in leaves large amounts of polyprenols composed of 10-50 isoprene units [2]. CELL. BIOL. MOL. LETT. Vol. 6. No. 2. 2001 192
Biological role of dolichol
Chojnacki, T. and Dallner, G.
Biochem. J. 251 (1988) 1-9. [PubMed]
The Search for Plant Polyprenols
Swiezewska, E., Sasak, W., Mankowski, T., Jankowski, W., Vogtman, T., Krajewska, I., Hertel, J., Skoczylas,
E. and Chojnacki, T.
Acta Biochim. Polon. 41 (1994) 221-260. [PubMed]
Influence of dolichols on lipid polymorphism in model membranes and the consequences for phospholipid flip-flop and vesicle fusion
Van Duij, G., Verkleij, A.J., de Kruijff, B., Valtersson, C., Dallner, G. and Chojnacki, T.
Chem. Scripta 27 (1987) 95-100.
