Discovering Lipid Droplet Proteins: From Seeds to Seedlings.

Lynn G.L Richardson

doi:10.1104/pp.20.00089

Abstract

During germination and early seedling establishment, embryos rely on stored energy for growth and cellular maintenance until photoautotrophic growth takes over. Proteins and lipids make up most of the energy-rich stores in the embryo, and in Arabidopsis ( Arabidopsis thaliana ), lipids can

Highlights

During germination and early seedling establishment, embryos rely on stored energy for growth and cellular maintenance until photoautotrophic growth takes over
A relatively mild technique was developed for enriching lipid droplets (LDs) protein fractions, whereby analysis of an enrichment factor in LD fractions compared with total protein extracts can be used to predict novel, perhaps loosely associated or low-abundance LD proteins (Kretzschmar et al, 2020)
Several novel LD proteins were identified, and their localization to LDs was shown using transient expression of fluorescent protein-tagged versions in Nicotiana benthamiana via Agrobacterium tumefaciens infiltration and in Nicotiana tabacum pollen tubes transformed by biolistic bombardment (Kretzschmar et al, 2020)

Summary

Introduction

During germination and early seedling establishment, embryos rely on stored energy for growth and cellular maintenance until photoautotrophic growth takes over. LDs are formed when TAGs and other neutral lipids begin to accumulate within the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane bilayer (Fig. 1). The ER membrane leaflet begins to bulge into the cytoplasm as more lipid accumulates, eventually budding off to form the LD (Fig. 1; Pyc et al, 2017; Huang, 2018).

Results

Conclusion