SUMMARY Proteomic studies have revealed many potential functions of cytoplasmic lipid droplets and recent activity has confirmed that these bona fide organelles are central not only for lipid storage and metabolism, but for development, immunity, and pathogenesis by several microbes. There has been a burst of recent activity on the assembly, maintenance and turnover of lipid droplets that reveal fresh insights. This review summarizes several novel findings in initiation of lipid droplet assembly, protein targeting, droplet fusion, and turnover of droplets through lipophagy.

Copper is an element that is both essential and toxic. It is a required micronutrient for energy production in aerobic eukaryotes, from unicellular yeast to plants and mammals. Copper is also required for the acquisition and systemic distribution of the essential metal iron, and so copper deficiency results in iron deficiency. Copper enzymes have been identified that explain the wide variety of symptoms suffered by copper deficient subjects. The cloning of the genes encoding transport proteins responsible for copper-related Menkes and Wilson diseases inspired and coincided with the discovery of copper chaperones that stimulated the copper homeostasis field. Copper continues to be implicated in new array of proteins, notably those involved in a variety of neurodegenerative diseases. Here we will describe the cadre of important historical copper proteins and survey the major metallochaperones and transporters responsible for mobilization and sequestration of copper in yeast, mammals and plants.