When ethanol is present, PLD substitutes ethanol for water and covalently attaching the alcohol as the head group of the phospholipid; hence the name phosphatidylethanol. Normally PLD incorporates water to generate phosphatidic acid (PA); the process is termed transphosphatidylation. PLD continues to generate PA in the presence of ethanol and while PEth is generated and the effects of ethanol transphosphatidlyation are through the generation of the unnatural lipid not depletion of PA.