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International audience; Phosphoinositides are lipids involved in the vesicular transport of proteins and lipids between the different compartments of eukaryotic cells. They act by recruiting and/or activating effector proteins and thus are involved in regulating various cellular functions, such as vesicular budding, membrane fusion and cytoskeleton dynamics. Although detected in small concentrations in membranes, their role is essential to cell function, since imbalance in their concentrations is a hallmark of many cancers. Their synthesis involves phosphorylating/dephosphorylating positions D3, D4 and/or D5 of their inositol ring by specific lipid kinases and phosphatases. This process is tightly regulated and specific to the different intracellular membranes. Most enzymes involved in phosphoinositide synthesis are conserved between yeast and human, and their loss of function leads to severe diseases (cancer, myopathy, neuropathy and ciliopathy). The dynamic modulation of the physicochemical properties of membranes is required for eukaryotic cells function. Indeed, cells live in an environment characterized by temperature, relative humidity, pH, sun exposure, osmotic pressure and nutrient variations. Living organisms have to adapt to variations of these different factors in order to keep their intracellular balance. Eukaryotic cells have achieved this by adopting a compartmentalized organization, which minimizes the intracellular variations resulting from extracellular fluctuations. The plasma membrane is the first barrier separating the cytoplasm from the extracellular medium. Its composition ensures a mechanical protection, but also allows exchanges with the medium through transporters and receptors, as a form of very selective permeability. Membranes are composed of two phospholipid leaflets organized as a bilayer in which sterols, glycolipids and proteins are inserted. The phospholipids of this bilayer are amphiphilic with a hydrophilic group (head) linked to a hydrophobic group (tail) (Figure 1A). In the bilayer, the hydrophobic groups face each other, thus creating a hydrophobic space in between them, which ensures its role as a barrier. This property is very important for the anchoring of hydrophobic molecules, such as sterols or ceramides, transmembrane domains or the lipid anchor of proteins. The lipid composition of membranes varies according to the organism (eukaryotes or prokaryotes), the cell type (among the different tissues of a multicellular organism), the membrane type (plasma Int.

International audience; Phosphoinositides (PPIn) are lipids involved in the vesicular transport of proteins between the different intracellular compartments. They act by recruiting and/or activating effector proteins and are thus involved in crucial cellular functions including vesicle budding, fusion and dynamics of membranes and regulation of the cytoskeleton. Although they are present in low concentrations in membranes, their activity is essential for cell survival and needs to be tightly controlled. Therefore, phosphatases and kinases specific of the various cellular membranes can phosphorylate/dephosphorylate their inositol ring on the positions D3, D4 and/or D5. The differential phosphoryla-tion determines the intracellular localisation and the activity of the PPIn. Indeed, non-phosphorylated phosphatidylinositol (PtdIns) is the basic component of the PPIn and can be found in all eukaryotic cells at the cytoplasmic face of the ER, the Golgi, mitochondria and microsomes. It can get phosphorylated on position D4 to obtain PtdIns4P, a PPIn enriched in the Golgi compartment and involved in the maintenance of this organelle as well as anterograde and retrograde transport to and from the Golgi. PtdIns phosphorylation on position D3 results in PtdIns3P that is required for endosomal transport and multivesicular body (MVB) formation and sorting. These monophosphorylated PtdIns can be further phosphorylated to produce bisphophory-lated PtdIns. Thus, PtdIns(4,5)P2, mainly produced by PtdIns4P phosphorylation, is enriched in the plasma membrane and involved in the regulation of actin cytoskeleton and endocytosis. PtdIns(3,5)P2, mainly produced by PtdIns3P phosphorylation, is enriched in late endosomes, MVBs and the lysosome/vacuole and plays a role in endo-some to vacuole transport. PtdIns(3,4)P2 is absent in yeast, cells and mainly produced by PtdIns4P phosphorylation in human cells; PtdIns(3,4)P2 is localised in the plasma membrane and plays an important role as a second messenger by recruiting specific; Les phosphoinositides sont des lipides impliqués dans le transport vésiculaire des protéines entre les différents compartiments. Ils agissent par le recrutement et/ou l’activation de protéines effectrices et sont de ce fait impliqués dans la régulation de différentes fonctions cellulaires telles que le bourgeonnement vésiculaire, la fusion ou la dynamique des membranes et du cytosquelette. Bien que présents en faible concentration dans les membranes, leur rôle est indispensable à la survie des cellules et doit être régulé avec précision. Le contrôle de leur fonction se fait par la phosphorylation/déphosphorylation des positions D3, D4 et/ou D5 de leur anneau inositol par des kinases et phosphatases spécifiques des différentes membranes intracellulaires. Ces enzymes sont en partie conservées entre la levure et l’Homme et leur perte de fonction peut entraîner des maladies génétiques graves comme les myopathies.