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LUNDQUIST LAB
We study dynamic lipid Droplets of plant plastids called
The chloroplast is the defining organelle of photosynthetic eukaryotes. It serves as the site of photosynthesis, and is tightly integrated within the metabolic and signaling networks of the plant. As such, the chloroplast is a primary site of (a)biotic stress perception, and an important component of stress adaptation and tolerance.
In addition to the well-characterized structures of the chloroplast – the thylakoid, stroma, and envelope membranes – the chloroplast also contains highly dynamic lipid-protein particles called plastoglobules. |
Plastoglobules exist within chloroplasts - as well as many other plastid subtypes - and appear to be essential for photosynthetic life. They harbor a small core of several dozen structural and enzymatic proteins involved in various metabolic, signaling and ROS scavenging functions (and likely other yet-to-be-determined functions). As such they represent an exciting target of research, with great potential for improvement of plant stress resilience and nutritional traits, and applications to metabolic engineering, biofuels, and biopharming.
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