Supplementary key words lipid and lipoprotein metabolism • obesity • storage diseases • phospholipids/metabolism • Malpighian tubules • adipose triglyceride lipase • Brummer (Drosophila melanogaster adipose triglyceride lipase)Organismal energy homeostasis is continuously challenged by fluctuating environmental and internal conditions, which require a fast and precisely controlled adaption to energy needs. To maintain this homeostasis, organisms as different as yeast, plants, nematodes, flies, mice, and humans accumulate energy stores during periods of food supply. Whenever energy expenditure exceeds energy intake, these energy stores become mobilized and catabolized to ensure permanent energy balance. Lipids, in particular triglycerides (TGs), are the calorically most important energy depots in eukaryotic organisms. Besides their pivotal function as metabolic fuel, i.e., as a source Abstract Triglycerides (TGs) are the main energy storage form that accommodates changing organismal energy demands. In Drosophila melanogaster, the TG lipase Brummer is centrally important for body fat mobilization. Its gene brummer (bmm) encodes the ortholog of mammalian adipose TG lipase, which becomes activated by /-hydrolase domaincontaining 5 (ABHD5/CGI-58), one member of the paralogous gene pair, /-hydrolase domain-containing 4 (ABHD4) and ABHD5. In Drosophila, the pummelig (puml) gene encodes the single sequence-related protein to mammalian ABHD4/ ABHD5 with unknown function. We generated puml deletion mutant flies, that were short-lived as a result of lipid metabolism changes, stored excess body fat at the expense of glycogen, and exhibited ectopic fat storage with altered TG FA profile in the fly kidneys, called Malpighian tubules. TG accumulation in puml mutants was not associated with increased food intake but with elevated lipogenesis; starvation-induced lipid mobilization remained functional. Despite its structural similarity to mammalian ABHD5, Puml did not stimulate TG lipase activity of Bmm in vitro. Rather, Puml acted as a phospholipase that localized on lipid droplets, mitochondria, and peroxisomes. Together, these results show that the ABHD4/5 family member Puml is a versatile phospholipase that regulates Drosophila body fat storage and energy metabolism.-Hehlert, P