Chain flexibility of medicinal lipids determines their selective partitioning into lipid droplets.

ABSTRACT: In guiding lipid droplets (LDs) to serve as storage vessels that insulate high-value lipophilic compounds in cells, we demonstrate that chain flexibility of lipids determines their selective migration in intracellular LDs. Focusing on commercially important medicinal lipids with biogenetic similarity but structural dissimilarity, we computationally and experimentally validate that LD remodeling should be differentiated between overproduction of structurally flexible squalene and that of rigid zeaxanthin and β-carotene. In molecular dynamics simulations, worm-like flexible squalene is readily deformed to move through intertwined chains of triacylglycerols in the LD core, whereas rod-like rigid zeaxanthin is trapped on the LD surface due to a high free energy barrier in diffusion. By designi

SUBMITTER: Son SH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9232528 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature