Lipid metabolism in Drosophila: development and disease.

Proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids are three major components of the cell. Despite a few basic metabolic pathways, we know very little about lipids, compared with the explosion of knowledge about proteins and nucleic acids. How many different forms of lipids are there? What are the in vivo functions of individual lipid? How does lipid metabolism contribute to normal development and human health? Many of these questions remain unanswered. For over a century, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has been used as a model organism to study basic biological questions. In recent years, increasing evidences proved that Drosophila models are highly valuable for lipid metabolism and energy homeostasis researches. Some recent progresses of lipid metabolic regulation during Drosophila development and in Drosophila models of human diseases will be discussed in this review.