Caged lipids as tools for investigating cellular signaling.
Lipid derivatives that can be activated by light, often referred to as 'caged' lipids, are useful tools to manipulate intact cells non-invasively. Here we focus on experimental approaches that have made use of caged lipids. Apart from summarizing the recent advances and available tools in the field, we strive to highlight the experimental challenges that arise from lipid-specific biophysical properties and the abundance of an enormous diversity of distinct molecular lipid species in cells. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled Tools to study lipid functions.
European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Cell Biology & Biophysics Unit, Meyerhofstr. 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
Doris
D
Höglinger
European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Cell Biology & Biophysics Unit, Meyerhofstr. 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
André
A
Nadler
European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Cell Biology & Biophysics Unit, Meyerhofstr. 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany. Electronic address: schultz@embl.de.
Carsten
C
Schultz
D001703:Biophysics; D008055:Lipids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D015394:Molecular Structure; D015290:Second Messenger Systems; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013261:Sterols / Q000737:chemistry
D008055:Lipids; D013261:Sterols
Cell entry; Lipid second messenger; Lipid signaling; Phosphoinositides; Photoactivation