Phospholipase A1 is a phospholipase enzyme which removes the 1-acyl. Phospholipase A1 is a component of snake venom, but it also serves in normal metabolism to produce fatty acids from phospholipids. In melanocytic cells the Phospholipase A1 gene may be regulated by MITF.

Phosphatidylserine-specific phospholipase A1-alpha (PLA1A) acts specifically on phosphatidylserine (PS) and 1-acyl-2-lysophosphatidylserine (lyso-PS) to hydrolyze fatty acids at the sn-1 position of these phospholipids.Although PLA1A belongs to the phospholipase gene family, the predicted amino acid sequence of the rat gene product demonstrated greater homology with mammalian triglyceride lipases than with phospholipases.