| Citation | Distinguished for contributions to the field of phospholipid biochemistry. He developed a totally new method for investigating phospholipid structure with which he obtained the first reliable analysis of membrane phospholipids and discovered and characterised eleven additional phospholipids. He recognised the complexity of the polyphosphoinositide fraction in brain, and isolated triphoinositide.
He showed that the movement of phospholipids between cell membranes could be effected by exchange proteins existing in the cytoplasm. In elucidating the pathways of phosphatidylinositol breakdown in tissues he discovered four new enzymes. He showed that certain phosphodiesterases can act as cyclising transferases forming cyclic phosphates of inositol and glycerol, compounds which he has detected in tissues. Two highly specific enzymes were discovered which can reopen the ring structure.
His investigations revealed a new series of dimethyl-branched long-chain dicarboxylic acids occurring as major components of the lipids of Butyrivibrio sp. He has shown that in the ruminant, dietary choline cannot be used for vitamin requirements; the turnover of liver phospatidylcholine is dramatically curtailed so that intrinsic synthesis of choline from phosphatidylethanolamine supplies the animals' needs. |