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Updated: Jun 10, 2026

Exploring the Regulation of Lipid Droplet Catabolism through Lipophagy
Published on: January 31, 2025
Regulation of lipid droplet turnover by ubiquitin ligases
Philipp Alberts1, Daniela Rotin
1Cell Biology Program, The Hospital for Sick Children, and Biochemistry Department, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1L7, Canada. philipp.alberts@utoronto.ca
Abstract:
Mutation of the protein spartin is a cause of one form of spastic paraplegia. Spartin interacts with ubiquitin ligases of the Nedd4 family, and a recent report in BMC Biology now shows that it acts as an adaptor to recruit and activate the ubiquitin ligase AIP4 onto lipid droplets, leading to the ubiquitination and degradation of droplet-associated proteins. A deficiency of spartin apparently causes lipid droplets to accumulate.
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