HISTONE STORES: Wild-type Drosophila embryos contain an abundance of H2B histones (top layer, left), while engineered embryos (right) do not.© COURTESY OF ZHIHUAN LI
The paper Z. Li et al., “Lipid droplets control the maternal histone supply of Drosophila embryos,” Curr Biol, 22: 2104-13, 2012. The finding Excess free-floating histones are toxic to cells. Yet researchers have observed massive stores of maternally supplied histones, bound to lipid droplets, in Drosophila embryonic cells. To understand the function of these fat-associated histones, Michael Welte of the University of Rochester and his colleagues disrupted the synthesis of new histones in fly embryos and found support for the idea that lipid droplets help the embryo safely store the excess pre-made histones for times of need. The partner By purifying the droplets and isolating the associated proteins, Welte’s group identified a new protein, Jabba, which anchors histones to lipid droplets. When they engineered embryos ...
