Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

What are Lipids?

What are Lipids?

What are Lipids?

What are Lipids?

Lipids function as structural components of cellular membranes, in addition to acting as energy reservoirs and signaling molecules. They are thus crucial to all living organisms. The three biologically important classes of lipids are triglycerides, phospholipids, and steroids.
Non-Polar and Hydrophobic Characteristics of Lipids
Lipids are a structurally and functionally diverse group of hydrocarbons—compounds consisting of carbon and hydrogen atoms. The carbon-carbon and...

Lipid Digestion

Lipid Digestion

Lipids are large molecules that are generally not water-soluble. Since most of the digestive enzymes in the human body are water-based, there are specific steps the body must take to break down lipids and make them available for use.

Structure of Lipids

Structure of Lipids

Lipids include a diverse group of compounds that are largely nonpolar in nature. This is because they are hydrocarbons that include mostly nonpolar carbon-carbon or carbon-hydrogen bonds. Non-polar molecules are hydrophobic (“water fearing”), or insoluble in water. Lipids perform many different functions in a cell. Cells store energy for long-term use in the form of fats. Lipids also provide insulation from the environment for plants and animals. For example, they help keep aquatic...

Lipids as Anchors

Lipids as Anchors

In the plasma membrane, the lipids forming the bilayer can also act as an anchor to tether proteins to the membrane. The three main types of lipid anchors found in eukaryotes are – prenyl groups, fatty acyl groups, and glycosylphosphatidylinositol or GPI groups. Prenyl and fatty acyl groups act as anchors on the cytosolic surface of the membrane, whereas GPI anchors proteins on the extracellular side.
The carboxy-terminal of most of the prenylated proteins, such as Ras proteins, contains...

Lipid Catabolism

Lipid Catabolism

Triglycerides serve as crucial long-term energy storage molecules in microorganisms, providing a dense source of metabolic energy. Their breakdown is mediated by lipases, which hydrolyze triglycerides into glycerol and free fatty acids. Each of these components follows distinct metabolic pathways, ultimately contributing to ATP synthesis and cellular energy homeostasis.Glycerol MetabolismGlycerol, released from triglyceride hydrolysis, is phosphorylated by glycerol kinase to form...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Movement Anywhere: An Open-Source Distributed 2D Video-Based Movement Analysis Platform Empowered by Active Learning.

IEEE journal of biomedical and health informatics·2026

Same author

DeePFAS: Deep-Learning-Enabled Rapid Annotation of PFAS: Enhancing Nontargeted Screening through Spectral Encoding and Latent Space Analysis.

Environmental science & technology·2025

Same author

Altered gut microbial networks and metabolic pathways in multiple system atrophy: a comparative 16S rRNA study.

Frontiers in neuroscience·2025

Same author

Curated CYP450 Interaction Dataset: Covering the Majority of Phase I Drug Metabolism.

Scientific data·2025

Same author

Analyzing Generative AI and Machine Learning in Auto-Assessing Schizophrenia's Negative Symptoms.

Schizophrenia bulletin·2025

Same author

A robust and interpretable graph neural network-based protocol for predicting p-glycoprotein substrates.

Briefings in bioinformatics·2025

Same journal

conMItion: an R package adjusting confounding factors for associations in multi-omics.

Bioinformatics (Oxford, England)·2026

Same journal

SpaMFG: a Spatial Multi-omics Integration Method based on Feature Grouping.

Bioinformatics (Oxford, England)·2026

Same journal

CSCN: Inference of Cell-Specific Causal Networks Using Single-Cell RNA-Seq Data.

Bioinformatics (Oxford, England)·2026

Same journal

Sparse CCA-Based Mediation Analysis with High-Dimensional Exposures and Mediators.

Bioinformatics (Oxford, England)·2026

Same journal

Enhancing Cross-Context Generalization in Drug Perturbation Prediction with a Multimodal Conditional Diffusion Framework.

Bioinformatics (Oxford, England)·2026

Same journal

Primer Design through Submodular Function Estimation.

Bioinformatics (Oxford, England)·2026

See all related articles

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Feb 12, 2026

A Simple Fractionated Extraction Method for the Comprehensive Analysis of Metabolites, Lipids, and Proteins from a Single Sample

A Simple Fractionated Extraction Method for the Comprehensive Analysis of Metabolites, Lipids, and Proteins from a Single Sample

Published on: June 1, 2017

LipidPedia: a comprehensive lipid knowledgebase.

Tien-Chueh Kuo^1,2, Yufeng Jane Tseng^1,2,3,4

¹Graduate Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Bioinformatics, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.

Bioinformatics (Oxford, England)

|April 13, 2018

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

LipidPedia is a new comprehensive knowledgebase that consolidates information on over 3923 lipids, addressing the challenge of fragmented lipid data. This resource aids researchers in understanding complex lipid functions and mechanisms.

More Related Videos

Determination of Total Lipid and Lipid Classes in Marine Samples

Determination of Total Lipid and Lipid Classes in Marine Samples

Published on: December 11, 2021

Comprehensive Understanding of Inactivity-Induced Gait Alteration in Rodents

Comprehensive Understanding of Inactivity-Induced Gait Alteration in Rodents

Published on: July 6, 2022

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Feb 12, 2026

A Simple Fractionated Extraction Method for the Comprehensive Analysis of Metabolites, Lipids, and Proteins from a Single Sample

A Simple Fractionated Extraction Method for the Comprehensive Analysis of Metabolites, Lipids, and Proteins from a Single Sample

Published on: June 1, 2017

Determination of Total Lipid and Lipid Classes in Marine Samples

Determination of Total Lipid and Lipid Classes in Marine Samples

Published on: December 11, 2021

Comprehensive Understanding of Inactivity-Induced Gait Alteration in Rodents

Comprehensive Understanding of Inactivity-Induced Gait Alteration in Rodents

Published on: July 6, 2022

Area of Science:

Biochemistry
Bioinformatics
Molecular Biology

Background:

Lipids encompass diverse classes like fatty acyls, glycerolipids, and sphingolipids, crucial for energy storage, cell membranes, and signaling.
The vast number of identified lipids (over 36 million) and complex nomenclature hinder comprehensive data accessibility.
Existing lipid databases lack integrated information, posing challenges for researchers seeking to understand lipid roles and mechanisms.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop LipidPedia, a centralized and comprehensive lipid knowledgebase.
To integrate diverse lipid annotation data with full-text mining from scientific literature.
To provide detailed information on lipid functions, associated diseases, pathways, and cellular locations.

Main Methods:

Integrated annotation data with full-text mining from over 1.4 million scientific publications.
Compiled information on 3923 lipids and over 400,000 associated annotations.
Curated lipid entries with summaries from frequently cited literature on diseases, pathways, genes, and experimental models.

Main Results:

LipidPedia offers a comprehensive knowledgebase for over 3923 lipids.
Contains more than 400,000 annotations linking lipids to diseases, pathways, functions, and locations.
Provides curated summaries and detailed references for each lipid, facilitating research.

Conclusions:

LipidPedia serves as a valuable resource for understanding lipid biology.
The knowledgebase simplifies the discovery of information related to lipid functions and mechanisms.
Facilitates research by providing a unified and detailed overview of lipid data.