A Lipid Droplet-Associated GFP Reporter-Based Screen Identifies New Fat Storage Regulators in C. elegans

作者：Liu, Zhenglong; Li, Xia; Ge, Qinlan; Ding, Mei; Huang, Xun^*

来源：Journal of Genetics and Genomics, 2014, 41(5): 305-313.

DOI：10.1016/j.jgg.2014.03.002

• Fat storage
• Lipid droplet
• PLIN1
• C. elegans

Fat storage disorders including obesity are pandemic human health problems. As a genetically amenable model organism, Caenorhabditis elegans has often been used to explore the molecular mechanisms of fat storage regulation. Dye staining of fixed animals and stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy methods have been used successfully to study fat storage, but a genetic screening system that takes full advantage of C. elegans transparency to perform live imaging of fluorescent protein reporters has not yet been reported. Here, we investigated the tissue-specific expression of the GFP fusion of Perilipin 1 (PLIN1), a Drosophila lipid droplet-associated protein, in C. elegans. Our results indicate that PLIN1::GFP labels lipid droplets and can be used as a fat storage indicator in live worms. Through an RNAi screen, we further identified several previously uncharacterized new fat storage regulators.

• 出版日期2014-5
• 单位中国科学院大学; 中国科学院遗传与发育生物学研究所; 分子发育生物学国家重点实验室