Assaying Plant Phosphatidic Acid Phosphatase Activity

Phosphatidic acid phosphatase (PAP; EC 3.1.3.4) catalyzes the dephosphorylation of phosphatidic acid (PA) to produce diacylglycerol (DAG) and inorganic phosphate. In seed plants, PA plays pivotal roles both as a precursor to membrane lipids and as a signaling molecule. As more information on the roles of PAP in plants becomes available and the importance of PAP is revealed, protocols for assaying plant PAP activity are of interest to an increasing audience. This chapter describes procedures to assay plant PAP activity that are based on recent publications.