title: A lipid droplet-associated GFP reporter-based screen identifies new fat storage regulators in C. elegans.
abstract: Fat storage disorders including obesity are pandemic human health problems. As a genetically amenable model organism, Caenorhabditis elegans has often been used to explore the molecular mechanisms of fat storage regulation. Dye staining of fixed animals and stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy methods have been used successfully to study fat storage, but a genetic screening system that takes full advantage of C. elegans transparency to perform live imaging of fluorescent protein reporters has not yet been reported. Here, we investigated the tissue-specific expression of the GFP fusion of Perilipin 1 (PLIN1), a Drosophila lipid droplet-associated protein, in C. elegans. Our results indicate that PLIN1::GFP labels lipid droplets and can be used as a fat storage indicator in live worms. Through an RNAi screen, we further identified several previously uncharacterized new fat storage regulators.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Zhenglong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Xia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Qinlan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China. Electronic address: xhuang@genetics.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Xun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D066292:Lipid Droplets / Q000378:metabolism*; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D000070778:Perilipin-1; D010750:Phosphoproteins / Q000235:genetics*; D034622:RNA Interference
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; C000602978:PLIN1 protein, human; D000070778:Perilipin-1; D010750:Phosphoproteins; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins
keywords: C. elegans; Fat storage; Lipid droplet; PLIN1