Afflicted PUFA-PC Homeostasis (Enhanced Breakdown or Abated Synthesis) in COVID-19
Module IV is represented by LysoPC 16:0 as the central hub, which became negatively correlated with several PUFA-PEs in mild COVID-19 (blue lines; +/−) relative to healthy controls. Negative correlations between PUFA-PEs and lysoPCs in mild COVID-19 may be explained considering the limiting pool of interconnecting PUFA-PCs that were reduced in mild disease versus controls (Figure 2). Enhanced production of lysoPCs via phospholipase A-mediated cleavage of PUFA-PCs would require increased methylation of PUFA-PEs to generate more PUFA-PCs via phosphatidylethanolamine N-methyltransferase (PEMT). It was demonstrated in a human cohort that PEMT preferentially utilizes PUFA-PEs as substrates, over the more saturated PEs, to selectively produce PUFA-PCs (Grothe et al., 2015).