The proteomics of lipid droplets: structure, dynamics, and functions of the organelle conserved from bacteria to humans
- Li Yang*,†,
- Yunfeng Ding*,†,
- Yong Chen*,
- Shuyan Zhang*,
- Chaoxing Huo*,†,
- Yang Wang*,†,
- Jinhai Yu*,†,
- Peng Zhang*,†,
- Huimin Na*,†,
- Huina Zhang*,
- Yanbin Ma* and
- Pingsheng Liu1,*
- *National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules,Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; and
- †Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing, 100049, China
Abstract
Lipid droplets are cellular organelles that consists of a neutral lipid core covered by a monolayer of phospholipids and many proteins. They are thought to function in the storage, transport, and metabolism of lipids, in signaling, and as a specialized microenvironment for metabolism in most types of cells from prokaryotic to eukaryotic organisms. Lipid droplets have received a lot of attention in the last 10 years as they are linked to the progression of many metabolic diseases and hold great potential for the development of neutral lipid-derived products, such as biofuels, food supplements, hormones, and medicines. Proteomic analysis of lipid droplets has yielded a comprehensive catalog of lipid droplet proteins, shedding light on the function of this organelle and providing evidence that its function is conserved from bacteria to man. This review summarizes many of the proteomic studies on lipid droplets from a wide range of organisms, providing an evolutionary perspective on this organelle.
Footnotes
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↵1 To whom correspondence should be addressed. e-mail: pliu{at}ibp.ac.cn
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- Abbreviations:
- ADRP
- adipocyte differentiation-related protein
- ATGL
- adipose triglyceride lipase
- CHO
- Chinese hamster ovary
- ER
- endoplasmic reticulum
- GFP
- green fluorescent protein
- MLDS
- microorganism lipid droplet small
- PLIN
- perilipin
- TAG
- triacylglycerol
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This work was supported by Ministry of Science and Technology of China Grant Nos. 2009CB919000 and 2011CBA00900 and by National Natural Science Foundation of China Grant Nos. 30971431, 31000365, and 31100068. The authors declare that there are no competing financial interests.
- Received December 31, 2011.
- Revision received April 18, 2012.
- Copyright © 2012 by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.
