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MINI REVIEW article

Front. Cell Dev. Biol.
Sec. Membrane Traffic and Organelle Dynamics
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcell.2024.1483902
This article is part of the Research Topic Lipids and Membrane Contacts – Structure, Functional Aspects and Implications on Ageing, Cell Death and Autophagy, Volume II View all 3 articles

The evolving landscape of ER-LD contact sites

Provisionally accepted
Vineet Choudhary Vineet Choudhary *Akhil Kumar Akhil Kumar Surabhi Yadav Surabhi Yadav
  • All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Lipid droplets (LDs) are evolutionarily conserved dynamic organelles that play an important role in cellular physiology. Growing evidence suggests that LD biogenesis occurs at discrete endoplasmic reticulum (ER) subdomains demarcated by the lipodystrophy protein, Seipin, lack of which impairs adipogenesis. However, the mechanisms of how these domains are selected is not completely known. These ER sites undergo ordered assembly of proteins and lipids to initiate LD biogenesis and facilitate establishment of ER-LD contact sites, a prerequisite for proper growth and maturation of droplets. LDs retain both physical and functional association with the ER throughout their lifecycle to facilitate bi-directional communication, such as exchange of proteins and lipids between the two organelles at these ER-LD contact sites. In recent years several molecular tethers have been identified that bridge ER and LDs together including few proteins that are found exclusively at these ER-LD contact interface. Here, we discuss recent advances in understanding the role of factors that ensure functionality of ER-LD contact site machinery for LD homeostasis.

    Keywords: lipid droplets, organelle biogenesis, Neutral lipid storage, ER-LD contact site, Seipin, Lipid storage disorders, Fatty Acids, lipotoxicity

    Received: 20 Aug 2024; Accepted: 23 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Choudhary, Kumar and Yadav. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Vineet Choudhary, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.