Cationic lipids are used for delivering nucleic acids (lipoplexes) into cells for both therapeutic and biological applications. A better understanding of the identified key-steps, including endocytosis, endosomal escape and nuclear delivery is required for further developments to improve their efficacy. Here, we developed a labelling protocol using aminated nanoparticles as markers for plasmid ...

Cationic lipids are conceptually and methodologically simple tools to deliver nucleic acids into the cells. Strategies based on cationic lipids are viable alternatives to viral vectors and are becoming increasingly popular owing to their minimal toxicity. The first-generation cationic lipids were built around the quaternary nitrogen primarily for binding and condensing DNA. A large number of li...

Many prokaryotes are able to accumulate large amounts of lipophilic compounds as inclusion bodies in the cytoplasm. Members of most genera synthesize polymeric lipids such as poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) or other polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) (125), whereas accumulation of triacylglycerols (TAGs) and wax esters (WEs) in intracellular lipid-bodies is a property of only a few prokaryotes (10). Li...

Recently, different members of the CD1 family of MHC-like molecules have been shown to sample different intracellular compartments to present lipid and glycolipid antigens to T cells. Emerging models suggest that CD1 may have evolved to monitor the integrity of membrane lipids and/or to present microbial lipid antigens to both alpha beta and gamma delta T cells.

Membrane proteins, membrane lipids, and luminal contents are exchanged among the intracellular compartments of eukaryotic cells by vesicular transport. This process must be highly ordered to maintain cellular architecture in the face of rapid membrane turnover. The Ras-related Rab GTPases play multiple roles in regulating this traffic.

The intracellular and intramembrane profiles of fatty acids mirror those of dietary fat intake. The properties of transporter and receptor proteins embedded within cell membranes are influenced by the composition of the phospholipid membrane of cells. Many cell-signalling pathways involve lipids or lipid-derived molecules. Specific fatty acids are increasingly being identified as key regulators...