Cross talk between sphingolipids and glycerophospholipids in the establishment of plasma membrane asymmetry

Glycerophospholipids and sphingolipids are distributed asymmetrically between the two leaflets of the lipid bilayer. Recent studies revealed that certain P-type ATPases and ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters are involved in the inward movement (flip) and outward movement (flop) of glycerophospholipids, respectively. In this study of phytosphingosine (PHS)-resistant yeast mutants, we isolated mutants for PDR5, an ABC transporter involved in drug efflux as well as in the flop of phosphatidylethanolamine. The pdr5 mutants exhibited an increase in the efflux of sphingoid long-chain bases (LCBs). Genetic analysis revealed that the PHS-resistant phenotypes exhibited by the pdr5 mutants were dependent on Rsb1p, a putative LCB-specific transporter/translocase. We found that the expression of Rsb1p was increased in the pdr5 mutants. We also demonstrated that expression of RSB1 is under the control of the transcriptional factor Pdr1p. Expression of Rsb1p also was enhanced in mutants for the genes involved in the flip of glycerophospholipids, including ROS3, DNF1, and DNF2. These results suggest that altered glycerophospholipid asymmetry induces the expression of Rsb1p. Conversely, overexpression of Rsb1p resulted in increased flip and decreased flop of fluorescence-labeled glycerophospholipids. Thus, there seems to be cross talk between sphingolipids and glycerophospholipids in maintaining the functional lipid asymmetry of the plasma membrane.