title: Microorganism lipid droplets and biofuel development.
abstract: Lipid droplet (LD) is a cellular organelle that stores neutral lipids as a source of energy and carbon. However, recent research has emerged that the organelle is involved in lipid synthesis, transportation, and metabolism, as well as mediating cellular protein storage and degradation. With the exception of multi-cellular organisms, some unicellular microorganisms have been observed to contain LDs. The organelle has been isolated and characterized from numerous organisms. Triacylglycerol (TAG) accumulation in LDs can be in excess of 50% of the dry weight in some microorganisms, and a maximum of 87% in some instances. These microorganisms include eukaryotes such as yeast and green algae as well as prokaryotes such as bacteria. Some organisms obtain carbon from CO2 via photosynthesis, while the majority utilizes carbon from various types of biomass. Therefore, high TAG content generated by utilizing waste or cheap biomass, coupled with an efficient conversion rate, present these organisms as bio-tech 'factories' to produce biodiesel. This review summarizes LD research in these organisms and provides useful information for further LD biological research and microorganism biodiesel development.
authors.forename: Yingmei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Congyan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xipeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Xuelin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cichello
authors.affiliation: Marine College, Shandong University at Weihai, 180 Wenhua Xilu, Weihai, Shandong 264209, China guanhongbin@sdu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Hongbin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Guan
authors.affiliation: National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese, Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China pliu@ibp.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Pingsheng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000378:metabolism*; D056804:Biofuels; D018533:Biomass; D000460:Chlorophyta / Q000378:metabolism*; D022162:Cytoplasmic Vesicles / Q000378:metabolism*; D050356:Lipid Metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D040901:Proteomics; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000378:metabolism*; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D014280:Triglycerides