Dr. Michael A. Welte
Associate Professor

Department of Biology
University of Rochester
Hutchison 317
michael.welte@rochester.edu

Research Overview

Lipid droplets as protein sequestration sites

We recently found strong evidence that lipid droplets in early Drosophila embryos figure 1
When living embryos are centrifuged, it is possible to separate organelles by density in vivo. This technique reveals that certain histones are sequestered on lipid droplets. See Cermelli et al., 2006, for details. serve as storage depots for maternally provided histones (Cermelli et al., 2006). Histones are massively present on lipid droplets in ovaries and early embryos, but not in late embryos or cultured cells. Quantification of histone levels and transplantation experiments show that these histones are not irreversibly trapped, but can be transferred from droplets to nuclei as embryogenesis proceeds. We are now testing how widespread protein sequestration on droplets is, what functions it might serve and how specific proteins are recruited to lipid droplets in a reversible manner (see Welte, 2007, for discussion).

For more details on our research, please check out the links below: