Intracellular lipid particles of eukaryotic cells.

In this review article we describe characterization of intracellular lipid particles of three different eukaryotic species, namely mammalian cells, plants and yeast. Lipid particles of all types of cells share a general structure. A hydrophobic core of neutral lipids is surrounded by a membrane monolayer of phospholipids which contains a minor amount of proteins. Whereas lipid particles from mammalian cells and plants harbor specific classes of polypeptides, mainly perilipins and oleosins, respectively, yeast lipid particles contain a more complex set of enzymes which are involved in lipid biosynthesis. Function of lipid particles as storage compartment and metabolic organelle, and their interaction with other subcellular fractions are discussed. Furthermore, models for the biogenesis of lipid particles are presented and compared among the different species.