Hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) is the predominant lipase effector of catecholamine-stimulated lipolysis in adipocytes. HSL-dependent lipolysis in response to catecholamines is mediated by protein kinase A (PKA)-dependent phosphorylation of perilipin A (Peri A), an essential lipid droplet (LD)-associated protein.It is believed that perilipin phosphorylation is essential for the translocation of HSL from the cytosol to the LD, a key event in stimulated lipolysis. Using adipocytes retrovirally engineered from murine embryonic fibroblasts of perilipin null mice (Peri؊/؊ MEF), we demonstrate by cell fractionation and confocal microscopy that up to 50% of cellular HSL is LD-associated in the basal state and that PKA-stimulated HSL translocation is fully supported by adenoviral expression of a mutant perilipin lacking all six PKA sites (Peri A⌬1-6). PKA-stimulated HSL translocation was confirmed in differentiated brown adipocytes from perilipin null mice expressing an adipose-specific Peri A⌬1-6 transgene. Thus, PKA-induced HSL translocation was independent of perilipin phosphorylation. However, Peri A⌬1-6 failed to enhance PKA-stimulated lipolysis in either MEF adipocytes or differentiated brown adipocytes. Thus, the lipolytic action(s) of HSL at the LD surface requires PKA-dependent perilipin phosphorylation. In Peri؊/؊ MEF adipocytes, PKA activation significantly enhanced the amount of HSL that could be cross-linked to and co-immunoprecipitated with ectopic Peri A. Notably, this enhanced cross-linking was blunted in Peri؊/؊ MEF adipocytes expressing Peri A⌬1-6. This suggests that PKA-dependent perilipin phosphorylation facilitates (either direct or indirect) perilipin interaction with LD-associated HSL. These results redefine and expand our understanding of how perilipin regulates HSL-mediated lipolysis in adipocytes.The enzymatic hydrolysis of stored neutral lipid in adipocytes is an exquisitely regulated process that maintains whole body energy homeostasis in response to physiological demands. In both white and brown adipose tissue (BAT) 4 basal (constitutive) rates of adipocyte lipolysis are rapidly and dramatically up-regulated by lipolytic hormones such as catecholamines (1, 2). In white adipose tissue, catecholamine-induced lipolysis provides fatty acids as fuel to peripheral tissues during times of energy need, such as fasting and exercise (3-5). In BAT of human newborns and rodents, catecholamine-stimulated lipolysis provides fatty acids for heat production (via ␤-oxidation and mitochondrial uncoupling) in response to hypothermia (i.e. adaptive thermogenesis) (2, 6). Fatty acids that are released during adipocyte lipolysis also function as modulators of glucose and insulin action and insulin production (7,8). Moreover, the dysregulated release of fatty acids from adipocytes that occurs in obesity is implicated in the etiology of obesity-related complications, including type 2 diabetes (8 -10). Thus, in addition to its role in whole body energy homeostasis, the regulation of adipocyte lipolysis is vital to me...

About 10% of the Earth’s butterfly species inhabit the highly diverse ecosystems of China. Important for the ecological, economic, and cultural services they provide, many butterfly species experience threats from land use shifts and climate change. China has recently adopted policies to protect the nation’s biodiversity resources. This essay examines the current management of butterflies in China and suggests various easily implementable actions that could improve these conservation efforts. Our recommendations are based on the observations of a transdisciplinary group of entomologists and environmental policy specialists. Our analysis draws on other successful examples around the world that China may wish to consider. China needs to modify its scientific methodologies behind butterfly conservation management: revising the criteria for listing protected species, focusing on umbrella species for broader protection, identifying high priority areas and refugia for conservation, among others. Rural and urban land uses that provide heterogeneous habitats, as well as butterfly host and nectar plants, must be promoted. Butterfly ranching and farming may also provide opportunities for sustainable community development. Many possibilities exist for incorporating observations of citizen scientists into butterfly data collection at broad spatial and temporal scales. Our recommendations further the ten Priority Areas of China’s National Biodiversity Conservation Strategy and Action Plan (2011–2030).

Three Graphium species belonging to two species groups of the subgenus Pazala, the alebion and tamerlanus groups, were examined in molecular and morphological studies, and their female genitalia are reported for the first time. Their relationship with other species groups within the subgenus is assessed and their divergence times are estimated. We find that G. (P.) alebion is the first lineage to diverge within Pazala in the early Miocene (20 Ma) and that G. (P.) tamerlanus and G. (P.) parus are sister species and diverged from each other in the late Miocene (7 Ma). A revision of the four recognised taxa belonging to three species is presented, and historical misidentification of these taxa and their geographic ranges are explained.