Animals have evolved mechanisms to maintain circulating nutrient levels when energy
demands exceed feeding opportunities. Mammals store most of their energy as
triacylglycerol in the perilipin-coated lipid droplets of adipocytes. How newly synthesized
triacylglycerol is delivered to perilipin-coated lipid droplets is poorly understood. Perilipin is
a member of the evolutionarily related family of PAT proteins (Perilipin, Adipophilin, TIP47),
which is defined by sequence similarity and association with lipid droplets. We previously …