The why, when and how of lipid droplet diversity

Abdou Rachid Thiam (1) , Mathias Beller (2, 3)

1 LPS - Laboratoire de Physique Statistique de l'ENS
2 Institute for Mathematical Modeling of Biological Systems [Düsseldorf]
3 Systems Biology of Lipid Metabolism [Düsseldorf]

Lipid droplets are the universal cellular organelles for the transient or long-term storage of lipids. The number, size and composition of lipid droplets vary greatly within cells in a homogenous population as well as in different cell types. The variability of intracellular lipid-storage organelles reflects the diversification of lipid droplet composition and function. Lipid droplet diversification results, for example, in two cellular lipid droplet populations that are prone to diminish and grow, respectively. The aberrant accumulation or depletion of lipids are hallmarks or causes of various human pathologies. Thus, a better understanding of the origins of lipid droplet diversification is not only a fascinating cell biology question but also potentially serves to improve comprehension of pathologies that entail the accumulation of lipids. This Commentary covers the lipid droplet life cycle and highlights the early steps during lipid droplet biogenesis, which we propose to be the potential driving forces of lipid droplet diversification.

Mots clés: Endoplasmic reticulum; Lipid droplets; Lipid; metabolism; Organelle biogenesis; Organelle diversification; Emulsion physics

Domaines: Biologie cellulaire

Abdou Rachid Thiam, Mathias Beller. The why, when and how of lipid droplet diversity. Journal of Cell Science, 2017, 130 (2), pp.315 - 324. ⟨10.1242/jcs.192021⟩. ⟨hal-01452793⟩