Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Soulages, José L.
• Wells, Michael A.

Titel

Lipophorin: The Structure of an Insect Lipoprotein and Its Role in Lipid Transport in Insects

Ist Teil von

• Advances in Protein Chemistry, 1994, Vol.45, p.371-415

Ort / Verlag

United States: Elsevier Science & Technology

Erscheinungsjahr

1994

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• A significant way of organizing a lipid transport system is provided by insect lipoproteins, which provide an interesting contrast to the mammalian lipid transport system. In insects, a single lipoprotein, lipophorin, acts as a reusable shuttle to transfer diglycerides between the fat bodies, where they are stored as triglycerides, and the peripheral tissues. This chapter describes the composition and the organization of lipids and proteins in the lipophorins and the structure of apolipophorin-III that is determined by X-ray crystallography to 2.5 Å. Lipophorin is reloaded with lipid by another remarkable protein, the lipid transfer particle, which can affect a net transfer of diglycerides from the fat bodies to the depleted lipophorin particles. The major progress that is achieved in describing the lipid transport system in insects provides the results of significance for understanding lipid transport in general, an illustration of comparative biochemistry at its best. The only common major lipid component of vertebrate and insect lipoproteins is phospholipid (PL). The physiological roles of lipophorin in the biosynthesis and metabolism are also discussed.