Li Peng Laboratory of the School of Life Sciences reveals that gel-like two-dimensional phase separation mediates lipid droplet interaction, lipid droplet fusion, and lipid homeostasis regulation

Lipid droplets are organelles that store neutral lipids in cells.

On September 10, 2021, Peng Li’s team from Tsinghua University published an online publication in the Journal of Developmental Cell entitled "Cidec produces lipids through gel-like phase separation, which can promote lipid droplet fusion through a disc-like structure" (A gel-like condensation).

Many studies in the past ten years have shown that protein enrichment on specific subcellular organelles caused by phase separation is a necessary factor for promoting the control of specific complex biological functions

In summary, this study reveals that membrane-limited Citec two-dimensional phase separation is the basis for lipid droplet interaction, lipid droplet fusion disc structure formation and lipid droplet fusion, and points out that this type of membrane-bound two-dimensional phase separation may also be involved.

Dr.

This research was supported by the State Key Laboratory of Membrane Biology, Tsinghua-Peking University Joint Center for Life Sciences, Tsinghua University Facility Protein Cryo-electron Microscopy Platform, as well as funding from the National Key Research and Development Program and the National Natural Science Foundation of China

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Original link: https://doi.