Cell biology of lipid droplets.
Lipid storage has attracted much attention in the past years, both by the broader public and the biomedical scientific community. Driven by concerns about the obesity epidemic that affects most industrialized countries and even substantial parts of the population in less and least developed countries, work from researchers of many disciplines has shed light on the genetics, the physiology, and the cellular mechanisms of fat accumulation. This review focuses on the actual organelle of fat deposition, the lipid droplet (LD), and on the recent progress in mechanistic understanding of processes like LD biogenesis, LD growth and degradation, protein targeting to LDs and LD fusion.
Thiele
Christoph
C
Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Pfotenhauerstr. 108, D-01307 Dresden, Germany. thiele@mpi-cbg.de
Spandl
Johanna
J
D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D042541:Intracellular Space / Q000378:metabolism*; D050356:Lipid Metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D008055:Lipids / Q000502:physiology*
D008055:Lipids