title: As the fat flies: The dynamic lipid droplets of Drosophila embryos.
abstract: Research into lipid droplets is rapidly expanding, and new cellular and organismal roles for these lipid-storage organelles are continually being discovered. The early Drosophila embryo is particularly well suited for addressing certain questions in lipid-droplet biology and combines technical advantages with unique biological phenomena. This review summarizes key features of this experimental system and the techniques available to study it, in order to make it accessible to researchers outside this field. It then describes the two topics most heavily studied in this system, lipid-droplet motility and protein sequestration on droplets, discusses what is known about the molecular players involved, points to open questions, and compares the results from Drosophila embryo studies to what it is known about lipid droplets in other systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology University of Rochester, RC Box 270211, 317 Hutchison Hall, Rochester, NY 14627, USA. Electronic address: michael.welte@rochester.edu.
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Welte
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D066292:Lipid Droplets / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D008870:Microtubules / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014741:Video Recording
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins
keywords: Drosophila embryo; Lipid droplet; Microtubule motors; Protein sequestration