Sphingophospholipids - Video Tutorials & Practice Problems
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Sphingophospholipids
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In this video, we're going to begin our introduction to sphingophospholipids. Now before we get started, let's first take a look at our lipid map to make sure that we're all on the same page about where we are. And so, of course, we know that we're currently exploring all of the fatty acid based lipids, and we've already explored the glycerolipids, and we're currently in the process of exploring the sphingolipids. And so here in this video, we're specifically talking about the sphingophospholipids. And so you'll notice that this is taking the place of what used to be platform number 2 in some of the other versions of our map, and that's because this is a phospholipid that uses platform number 2, and platform number 2 is the sphingosine molecule. And so, really, when we take a look at, phospholipids as a whole, we can see that we have the template of a phospholipid is just a platform that is phosphorylated and contains at least one fatty acid chain. Now if we change the platform specifically to a glycerol molecule, we'll get the glycerophospholipids that we already covered in our previous lesson videos. But if we make the platform a sphingosine molecule instead of a glycerol molecule, we'll get the sphingophospholipid and so really that is what we're introducing here in this lesson. And so again, the sphingophospholipid is just going to be a sphingolipid that's covalently attached to a phosphate group. And it's as simple as that. And so the most common Sphingophospholipid is actually, the molecule sphingomyelin, which we're actually going to introduce in our next lesson video. So, I'll see you guys there.
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Sphingophospholipids
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Video transcript
In this video, we're going to introduce a very specific sphingophospholipid, which is sphingomyelin. And not only is sphingomyelin the most common sphingophospholipid, it's also the most common sphingolipid, so that's definitely noteworthy. Now, sphingomyelin is again a Sphingophospholipid, which of course means that it's gonna have a sphingosine back bone and it's gonna be attached to a phosphate group. And it turns out that the variable head groups are either going to be a phosphocholine or a phosphoethanolamine head group. Now down below in the image of our sphingomyelin, notice that you can see that there definitely is a sphingosine backbone here, so that's the sphingo part, and then also notice that there is a phosphate group here, so that's the phospho part, and so that's what makes sphingomyelin a sphingophospholipid, as we mentioned. And what you'll also note is that we're showing you here that the variable head group is phosphocholine. And, again it could also be phosphoethanolamine, and we showed you what an ethanolamine group look like and the Glycerophospholipid, classes table from our previous lesson video. So you can go back and check that out if you're interested. But really the main takeaway here is that we've got, a phosphate group that's gonna be included and this is going to be a polar head group. So, because it has a polar head group and then it has these non polar tails down here, this is what makes sphingomyelin an amphipathic molecule and makes it so suitable for membranes. And again, it's the most common sphingolipid. And the reason for that is because as the name implies with the myelin here, sphingomyelin is the primary structural component of the membranous myelin sheath. And so, you might recall from your previous biology courses or human anatomy and physiology courses that the myelin sheath is a membranous structure that surrounds the nerve cell axons of our nervous systems. And so notice over here, we're showing you an image of the axon of 1 of our nerve cells from our nervous system. And you'll note that it's being surrounded by this membranous, structure here that's called the myelin sheath. And the myelin sheath really helps for, nerve signals to be propagated down the axon much faster. But really the main takeaway here is that this myelin sheath is made up mainly of sphingomyelin, as the name implies, it's found in the myelin sheath. And so because sphingomyelin is such a major structural component of myelin sheath and myelin sheath is found so prevalently throughout our nervous systems, that is what makes sphingomyelin, the most common sphingolipid. But again, the major takeaway here is that sphingomyelin is a sphingophospholipid, and it's going to be found in the myelin sheath as the most common sphingolipid. And so, this here concludes our lesson on Sphingomyelin, and we'll be able to get some practice applying the concepts that we've learned in our next few videos. So, I'll see you guys there.
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Problem
Problem
Label the following as relating to (A) sphingophospholipids, (B) glycerophospholipids, or (C) triacylglycerols.
A) Contains two variable fatty acids: ______
B) Does not contain a phosphate group: ______
C) Contains an amide linkage: ______
D) Commonly utilized for obtaining energy: ______
E) Formed from glycerol and three fatty acids: ______