title: Lipid trafficking in plant cells.
abstract: Plant cells contain unique organelles such as chloroplasts with an extensive photosynthetic membrane. In addition, specialized epidermal cells produce an extracellular cuticle composed primarily of lipids, and storage cells accumulate large amounts of storage lipids. As lipid assembly is associated only with discrete membranes or organelles, there is a need for extensive lipid trafficking within plant cells, more so in specialized cells and sometimes also in response to changing environmental conditions such as phosphate deprivation. Because of the complexity of plant lipid metabolism and the inherent recalcitrance of membrane lipid transporters, the mechanisms of lipid transport within plant cells are not yet fully understood. Recently, several new proteins have been implicated in different aspects of plant lipid trafficking. While these proteins provide only first insights into limited aspects of lipid transport phenomena in plant cells, they represent exciting opportunities for further studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA; Department of Energy-Plant Research Laboratory, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA.
authors.forename: Anna K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Hurlock
authors.forename: Rebecca L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Roston
authors.forename: Kun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Benning
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001692:Biological Transport / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D050356:Lipid Metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D008055:Lipids / Q000502:physiology*; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D059828:Plant Cells / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D008055:Lipids; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins
keywords: chloroplast; cuticular wax; endoplasmic reticulum; glycolipids; sphingolipids