Lipid transport and metabolism

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Acyl-CoA metabolism is central to the partitioning of lipids between different cellular pools and underpins not only our understanding of lipid signalling and metabolism but also the ability to engineer production of high value fatty acids in plants. Although the reversible activation of fatty acids by conversion to CoA esters is now known to be catalysed by a large family of acyl activating enzymes, the relationship between this process and compartmentation of different substrates is poorly defined in plants. Similarly, although the transport of lipids and lipid metabolites such as CoA esters plays key roles in metabolism, signalling and development, the molecular details of these processes remain to be established.

This project aims to identify and characterise transporters involved in the movement of fatty acids, acyl CoAs and related molecules across membranes and to elucidate their cellular and physiological roles. A specific goal is to understand how substrates, co-substrates and cofactors of beta-oxidation are imported into peroxisomes and how peroxisomal metabolism is co-ordinated with other cellular compartments. The extent to which non-native lipids are metabolised by beta-oxidation will also be addressed. Longer term aims include the development of methods to assay lipid/metabolite transport, the identification of novel transporters and their roles in lipid compartmentation.

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