Lipid droplets (LDs) are critical subcellular organelles for energy storage and lipid homeostasis. Autophagy of LDs is an important pathway for their catabolism, but the molecular mechanisms mediating LD degradation by selective autophagy (lipophagy) are unknown. In particular, the understanding of LD pathways in neurons has been very limited.

Park lab contributed to a recent publication in Nat Cell Biol entitled “The Troyer syndrome protein spartin mediates selective autophagy of lipid droplets” in collaboration with Chung lab and Farese & Walther Lab. This study identifies spartin—whose mutations lead to Troyer syndrome, a form of complex hereditary spastic paraplegia—as a receptor localizing to LDs and interacting with core autophagy machinery. Park lab contributed to the investigation of neuronal LDs in the mouse motor cortex by analyzing the robust accumulation of LDs in neurons when lipophagy is selectively blocked.

Reference: Chung et al., Nat Cell Biol, 2023, The Troyer syndrome protein spartin mediates selective autophagy of lipid droplets.