Control of Drosophila Growth and Survival by the Lipid Droplet-Associated Protein CG9186/Sturkopf.

Lipid droplets (LDs) are the universal cellular storage organelles for esterified neutral lipids. The increasing number of characterized LD-associated proteins attained LDs with hitherto unexpected functions on top of their classical role as energy depot. Here, we characterize the LD-associated protein CG9186 of Drosophila by a CRISPR/Cas9-derived mutant fly line.

A Luciferase-fragment Complementation Assay to Detect Lipid Droplet-associated Protein-Protein Interactions.

A critical challenge for all organisms is to carefully control the amount of lipids they store. An important node for this regulation is the protein coat present at the surface of lipid droplets (LDs), the intracellular organelles dedicated to lipid storage. Only limited aspects of this regulation are understood so far.

Phytoestrogens genistein and daidzein affect immunity in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans via alterations of vitellogenin expression.

Scope: Phytoestrogens, such as the soy isoflavones genistein and daidzein, are suggested to beneficially affect lipid metabolism in humans and thereby contribute to healthy ageing. New evidences show that phytoestrogens might slow ageing processes also by affecting immune processes.

Methods And Results: We tested in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans the effects of 17β-estradiol, genistein, and daidzein on resistance versus the nematode pathogen Photorhabdus luminescens with focus on vitellogenins, which are invertebrate estrogen-responsive genes that encode homologues to ApoB100 with impact on immune functions.