Identification and characterization of two splice variants of human diacylglycerol kinase eta

Diacylglycerol kinase (DGK) participates in regulating the intracellular concentrations of two bioactive lipids, diacylglycerol and phosphatidic acid. DGK eta (eta 1, 128 kDa) is a type II isozyme containing a pleckstrin homology domain at the amino terminus. Here we identified another DGK eta isoform (eta 2, 135 kDa) that shared the same sequence with DGK eta 1 except for a sterile alpha motif (SAM) domain added at the carboxyl terminus. The DGK eta 1 mRNA was ubiquitously distributed in various tissues, whereas the DGK eta 2 mRNA was detected only in testis, kidney, and colon. The expression of DGK eta 2 was suppressed by glucocorticoid in contrast to the marked induction of DGK eta 1. DGK eta 2 was shown to form through its SAM domain homo-oligomers as well as hetero-oligomers with other SAM-containing DGKs (delta 1 and delta 2). Interestingly, DGK eta 1 and DGK eta 2 were rapidly translocated from the cytoplasm to endosomes in response to stress stimuli. In this case, DGK eta 1 was rapidly relocated back to the cytoplasm upon removal of stress stimuli, whereas DGK eta 2 exhibited sustained endosomal association. The experiments using DGK eta mutants suggested that the oligomerization of DGK eta 2 mediated by its SAM domain was largely responsible for its sustained endosomal localization. Similarly, the oligomerization of DGK eta 2 was suggested to result in negative regulation of its catalytic activity. Taken together, alternative splicing of the human DGK eta gene generates at least two isoforms with distinct biochemical and cell biological properties responding to different cellular metabolic requirements.