title: Identification of lipid droplet structure-like/resident proteins in Caenorhabditis elegans.
abstract: The lipid droplet (LD) is a cellular organelle that stores neutral lipids in cells and has been linked with metabolic disorders. Caenorhabditis elegans has many characteristics which make it an excellent animal model for studying LDs. However, unlike in mammalian cells, no LD structure-like/resident proteins have been identified in C. elegans, which has limited the utility of this model for the study of lipid storage and metabolism. Herein based on three lines of evidence, we identified that MDT-28 and DHS-3 previously identified in C. elegans LD proteome were two LD structure-like/resident proteins. First, MDT-28 and DHS-3 were found to be the two most abundant LD proteins in the worm. Second, the proteins were specifically localized to LDs and we identified the domains responsible for this targeting in both proteins. Third and most importantly, the depletion of MDT-28 induced LD clustering while DHS-3 deletion reduced triacylglycerol content (TAG). We further characterized the proteins finding that MDT-28 was ubiquitously expressed in the intestine, muscle, hypodermis, and embryos, whereas DHS-3 was expressed mainly in intestinal cells. Together, these two LD structure-like/resident proteins provide a basis for future mechanistic studies into the dynamics and functions of LDs in C. elegans.
authors.affiliation: National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Huimin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Na
authors.affiliation: National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Xiaotong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Yangli
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Kang
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA; Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66160, USA.
authors.forename: Ningyi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Fuquan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Human Genetics Huffington Center on Aging, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cichello
authors.affiliation: Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA; Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66160, USA.
authors.forename: Ho Yi
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Mak
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Human Genetics Huffington Center on Aging, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Meng C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China. Electronic address: pliu@ibp.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Pingsheng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D050356:Lipid Metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D009928:Organ Specificity / Q000502:physiology; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D014280:Triglycerides
keywords: Lipid droplet; MDT-28; Perilipin family; Structure-like/Resident Proteins; Triacylglycerol (TAG)