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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Feb 25.
Published in final edited form as: Annu Rev Physiol. 2014 Oct 20;77:161–178. doi: 10.1146/annurev-physiol-021014-071704

Figure 2. Composition of body fat and lipid droplets in C. elegans.

Figure 2

A. Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometric analysis of monoglycerides (MAGs), diglycerides (DAGs) and triglycerides (TAGs) in C. elegans shows that lipid is stored predominantly as TAGs, as in most metazoans including humans. Relative to wild-type animals (black bars) RNAi-mediated interference of atgl-1 (gray bars), the rate-limiting enzyme for lipid mobilization, shows a preferential accumulation of TAGs. B. Transmission electron microscopic images of a cross-section of the intestine in wild-type animals, 1450X. The intestinal cell is demarcated in blue and the lumen of the intestine, in red. C. At 4000X magnification, at least two lipid containing organelles can be visualized (Personal communication, Malcolm Wood, Microscopy Core, TSRI). One class has a phase-dark core (closed arrowhead) and the other is electron-lucent (open arrowhead). D. Model depicting the lipid regulatory network in C. elegans. Markers and regulatory proteins associated with each organelle are depicted. The lipid droplets and LROs contain fat, whereas the mitochondria and peroxisomes are metabolic organelles and utilize fat to produce energy. The ER and lipid droplets form contacts via ACS-22 and DGAT-2. Whether each organelle is in physical contact with other organelles remains to be determined. However, inhibition of LRO lipases lipl-1 and lipl-3 lead to lipid accumulation in the lipid droplets, and inhibition of mitochondrial and peroxisomal components lead to lipid accumulation in both the lipid droplets and the LROs.