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First published online October 12, 2006

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Rethinking lipid droplets

Once thought to be mere storage depots, lipid droplets are in fact active organelles that play key roles in signalling and membrane trafficking. The droplets contain a core of apolar lipids surrounded by a monolayer of phospholipids and associated proteins. Until now, the prevailing view has been that they form within the bilayer of the ER and bud off from its cytoplasmic leaflet. On p. 4215, however, Horst Robenek and co-workers show that this is not the case. They have followed the biogenesis of lipid droplets in the ER, using a combination of cryo-thin-section EM, confocal light microscopy and freeze-fracture EM to get a 3D perspective on the process. This approach reveals that a droplet forms alongside – not between – the ER membranes, which together form an `egg cup' that holds the droplet. Their study also shows that adipophilin – a PAT-family protein present in lipid droplets – forms clusters in the cytoplasmic leaflet of the ER adjacent to nascent droplets. Since adipophilin may function as lipid transporter, the authors propose that these clusters represent sites for transfer of material from the ER to the droplet during its biogenesis.

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Related articles in JCS:

Adipophilin-enriched domains in the ER membrane are sites of lipid droplet biogenesis

Horst Robenek, Oliver Hofnagel, Insa Buers, Mirko J. Robenek, David Troyer, and Nicholas J. Severs
JCS 2006 119: 4215-4224. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in JCS Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?