Zhang Shaobing O, Trimble Rhonda, Guo Fengli, Mak Ho Yi
Stowers Institute for Medical Research, 1000 E, 50th Street, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA.
BMC Cell Biol. 2010 Dec 8;11:96. doi: 10.1186/1471-2121-11-96.
Lipid droplets are a class of eukaryotic cell organelles for storage of neutral fat such as triacylglycerol (TAG) and cholesterol ester (CE). We and others have recently reported that lysosome-related organelles (LROs) are not fat storage structures in the nematode C. elegans. We also reported the formation of enlarged lipid droplets in a class of peroxisomal fatty acid β-oxidation mutants. In the present study, we seek to provide further evidence on the organelle nature and biophysical properties of fat storage structures in wild-type and mutant C. elegans.
In this study, we provide biochemical, histological and ultrastructural evidence of lipid droplets in wild-type and mutant C. elegans that lack lysosome related organelles (LROs). The formation of lipid droplets and the targeting of BODIPY fatty acid analogs to lipid droplets in live animals are not dependent on lysosomal trafficking or peroxisome dysfunction. However, the targeting of Nile Red to lipid droplets in live animals occurs only in mutants with defective peroxisomes. Nile Red labelled-lipid droplets are characterized by a fluorescence emission spectrum distinct from that of Nile Red labelled-LROs. Moreover, we show that the recently developed post-fix Nile Red staining method labels lipid droplets exclusively.
Our results demonstrate lipid droplets as ubiquitous fat storage organelles and provide a unified explanation for previous studies on fat labelling methods in C. elegans. These results have important applications to the studies of fat storage and lipid droplet regulation in the powerful genetic system, C. elegans.
脂滴是一类真核细胞器,用于储存中性脂肪,如三酰甘油(TAG)和胆固醇酯(CE)。我们和其他人最近报道,溶酶体相关细胞器(LROs)在秀丽隐杆线虫中不是脂肪储存结构。我们还报道了一类过氧化物酶体脂肪酸β-氧化突变体中脂滴的形成。在本研究中,我们试图为野生型和突变型秀丽隐杆线虫中脂肪储存结构的细胞器性质和生物物理特性提供进一步的证据。
在本研究中,我们提供了野生型和缺乏溶酶体相关细胞器(LROs)的突变型秀丽隐杆线虫中脂滴的生化、组织学和超微结构证据。脂滴的形成以及活体动物中BODIPY脂肪酸类似物靶向脂滴并不依赖于溶酶体运输或过氧化物酶体功能障碍。然而,活体动物中尼罗红靶向脂滴仅发生在过氧化物酶体有缺陷的突变体中。尼罗红标记的脂滴具有与尼罗红标记的LROs不同的荧光发射光谱特征。此外,我们表明最近开发的后固定尼罗红染色方法专门标记脂滴。
我们的结果证明脂滴是普遍存在的脂肪储存细胞器,并为先前关于秀丽隐杆线虫脂肪标记方法的研究提供了统一的解释。这些结果对在强大的遗传系统秀丽隐杆线虫中进行脂肪储存和脂滴调节的研究具有重要应用。