We have long known that lipids traffic between cellular membranes via vesicles but have only recently appreciated the role of nonvesicular lipid transport. Nonvesicular transport can be high volume, supporting biogenesis of rapidly expanding membranes, or more targeted and precise, allowing cells to rapidly alter levels of specific lipids in membranes. Most such transport probably occurs at membrane contact sites, where organelles are closely apposed, and requires lipid transport proteins (LTPs), which solubilize lipids to shield them from the aqueous phase during their transport between membranes. Some LTPs are cup like and shuttle lipid monomers between membranes. Others form conduits allowing lipid flow between membranes. This review describes what we know about nonvesicular lipid transfer mechanisms while also identifying many remaining unknowns: How do LTPs facilitate lipid movement from and into membranes, do LTPs require accessory proteins for efficient transfer in vivo, and how is directionality of transport determined?
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1 March 2021
Review|
February 19 2021
Mechanisms of nonvesicular lipid transport
Karin M. Reinisch
,
1
Department of Cell Biology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT
Karin M. Reinisch: karin.reinisch@yale.edu
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William A. Prinz
2
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD
Correspondence to William A. Prinz: wp53m@nih.gov
Search for other works by this author on:
Karin M. Reinisch
1
Department of Cell Biology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT
William A. Prinz
2
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD
Correspondence to William A. Prinz: wp53m@nih.gov
Karin M. Reinisch: karin.reinisch@yale.edu
Received:
December 09 2020
Revision Received:
February 02 2021
Accepted:
February 02 2021
Online Issn: 1540-8140
Print Issn: 0021-9525
Funding:
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
(NO AWARD)
National Institutes of Health
(35R131715)
© 2021 Reinisch and Prinz
2021
This article is distributed under the terms of an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike–No Mirror Sites license for the first six months after the publication date (see http://www.rupress.org/terms/). After six months it is available under a Creative Commons License (Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 4.0 International license, as described at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).
J Cell Biol (2021) 220 (3): e202012058.
Article history
Received:
December 09 2020
Revision Received:
February 02 2021
Accepted:
February 02 2021
Citation
Karin M. Reinisch, William A. Prinz; Mechanisms of nonvesicular lipid transport. J Cell Biol 1 March 2021; 220 (3): e202012058. doi: https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.202012058
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