Secretory Phospholipases A2 in Plants.

Secreted phospholipases (sPLA₂s) in plants are a growing group of enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of sn-2 glycerophospholipids to lysophospholipids and free fatty acids. Until today, around only 20 sPLA₂s were reported from plants. This review discusses the newly acquired information on plant sPLA₂s including molecular, biochemical, catalytic, and functional aspects. The comparative analysis also includes phylogenetic, evolutionary, and tridimensional structure. The observations with emphasis in Glycine max sPLA₂ are compared with the available data reported for all plants sPLA₂s and with those described for animals (mainly from pancreatic juice and venoms sources).