Publications

Kilwein M.D., Dao T.K., Welte M.A. (2023). Drosophila embryos allocate lipid droplets to specific lineages to ensure punctual development and redox homeostasis. PLOS Genetics 19(8): e1010875. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1010875

      • Featured on the cover of PLoS Genetics

Giedt, M. S., Thomalla, J. M., White, R. P., Johnson, M. R., Lai, Z. W., Tootle, T. L., & Welte, M. A. (2023). Adipose triglyceride lipase promotes prostaglandin-dependent actin remodeling by regulating substrate release from lipid droplets. Development, 150(20). https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.201516

      • Featured on the cover of Development

Kilwein, M. D., Johnson, M. R., Thomalla, J. M., Mahowald, A. P., & Welte, M. A. (2023). Drosophila embryos spatially sort their nutrient stores to facilitate their utilization. Development (Cambridge, England), 150(20), dev201423. https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.201423

White, R. P., & Welte, M. A. (2023). Visualizing Lipid Droplets in Drosophila Oogenesis. Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.), 2626, 233–251. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2970-3_12

Kilwein, M. D., & Welte, M. A. (2021). Visualizing Cytoskeleton-Dependent Trafficking of Lipid-Containing Organelles in Drosophila Embryos. Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE, (178), 10.3791/63291. https://doi.org/10.3791/63291

R. A. Stephenson, J. M. Thomalla, L. Chen, P. Kolkhof, R. P. White, M. Beller, M. A. Welte. (2021) Sequestration to lipid droplets promotes histone availability by preventing turnover of excess histones. Development 148 (15): dev199381. 

      • Featured as “Research Highlight” in the journal

L. W. Wat, C. Chao, R. Bartlett, J. L. Buchanan, J. W. Millington, H. J. Chih, Z. S. Chowdhury, Puja Biswas, V. Huang, L. J. Shin, L. C. Wang, M.–P. L. Gauthier, M. C. Barone, K. L. Montooth, M. A. Welte, E. J. Rideout. (2020) A role for triglyceride lipase brummer in the regulation of sex differences in Drosophila fat storage and breakdown. PLoS Biology 18(1):e3000595. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000595.

F. Nardi, P. Fitchev, K. M. Brooks, O. E. Franco, K. Cheng, S. W. Hayward, M. A. Welte, S. E. Crawford (2019). Lipid droplet velocity is a microenvironmental sensor of aggressive tumors regulated by V-ATPase and PEDF. (2019) Laboratory Investigations 99:1822–1834 (PMID: 31409893)

S. Fanning, A. Haque, T. Imberdis, V. Baru, I. Barrasa, S. Nuber, D. Termine, N. Ramalingam, G. P. H. Ho, T. Noble, J. Sandoe, Y. Lou, D. Landgraf, Y. Freyzon, G. Newby, F. Soldner, E. Terry–Cantor, T.E. Kim, H. F. Hofbauer, M. Becuwe, R. Jaenisch, D. Pincus, C.B. Clish, T. C. Walther, R. V. Farese, S. Srinivasan, M. A. Welte, S. D. Kohlwein, U. Dettmer, S. Lindquist, D. Selkoe (2019). Lipidomic Analysis of α-Synuclein Neurotoxicity Identifies Stearoyl CoA Desaturase as a Target for Parkinson Treatment. Molecular Cell 73:1001–1014 (PMID 30527540; NIHMS ID: NIHMS1514256)

Johnson MR, Stephenson RA, Ghaemmaghami S, Welte MA. Developmentally regulated H2Av buffering via dynamic sequestration to lipid droplets in Drosophilaembryos. Elife. 2018 Jul 25;7. pii: e36021. doi: 10.7554/eLife.36021.

      • Highlighted in the journal

Pennetta G, Welte MA.Emerging Links between Lipid Droplets and Motor Neuron Diseases. Dev Cell. 2018 May 21;45(4):427-432. doi: 10.1016/j.devcel.2018.05.002.

Welte MA, Gould AP. Lipid droplet functions beyond energy storage. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2017 Oct;1862(10 Pt B):1260-1272. doi: 10.1016/j.bbalip.2017.07.006. Epub 2017 Jul 19. Review.

Arora GK, Tran SL, Rizzo N, Jain A, Welte MA. Temporal control of bidirectional lipid-droplet motion in Drosophila depends on the ratio of kinesin-1 and its co-factor Halo. J Cell Sci. 2016 Apr 1;129(7):1416-28. doi: 10.1242/jcs.183426. Epub 2016 Feb 18.

Welte MA. How Brain Fat Conquers Stress. Cell. 2015 Oct 8;163(2):269-70. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2015.09.046.

Welte MA. As the fat flies: The dynamic lipid droplets of Drosophila embryos. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2015 Sep;1851(9):1156-85. doi: 10.1016/j.bbalip.2015.04.002. Epub 2015 Apr 13. Review.

M. A. Welte. 2015. Expanding roles for lipid droplets. Curr. Biol.25: R470-R481.

Haste makes waste
Klar ensures thermal robustness of oskar localization by restraining RNP motility. I. Gaspar, Y. V. Yu, S. L. Cotton, D.-H. Kim, A. Ephrussi, M. A. Welte (2014). J. Cell Biol. 206: 199-215

Lipid droplets act as short-term histone buffers
Drosophila lipid droplets buffer the H2Av supply to protect early embryonic development. Z. Li, M. Johnson, Z. Ke, L. Chen, M. A. Welte (2014). Curr. Biol. 24: 1485-1491

Selecting embryos of the correct genotype using droplet transport mutants
A conserved role for Snail as a potentiator of active transcription. M. Rembold, L. Ciglar, J. O. Yáñez-Cuna, R. P. Zinzen, C. Girardot, A. Jain, M. A. Welte, A. Stark, M. Leptin, E. E. M. Furlong (2014). Genes Dev. 28: 167-181

Klar is really complicated
Novel isoforms of the transport regulator Klar. D.-H. Kim, S. L. Cotton, D. Manna, M. A. Welte (2013). PLoS ONE 8: e55070

Keeping the bugs out: lipid-droplet bound histones in innate immunity
A novel role for lipid droplets in the organismal antibacterial response.P. Anand, S. Cermelli, Z. Li, A. Kassan, M. Bosch, R. Sigua, L. Huang, A. J. Ouellette, A. Pol, M. A. Welte, S. P. Gross (2012). eLife 1: e00003

Lipid droplets ARE protein sequestration sites
Lipid droplets control the maternal histone supply of Drosophila embryos. Z. Li, K. Thiel, P. J. Thul, M. Beller, R. Kühnlein, M. A. Welte. (2012). Curr. Biol. 22: 2104-2113

Klar controls nuclear positioning in muscles
Organelle positioning in muscles: Cooperation between two distinct KASH proteins and microtubules. H. Elhanany-Tamir, Y. V. Yu, M. Shnayder, Ankit Jain, M. Welte, T. Volk (2012). JCB 198: 833-846

Identity of a lipid-droplet protein
Targeting the motor regulator Klar to lipid droplets Y. V. Yu, Z. Li, N. P. Rizzo, J. Einstein, M. A. Welte (2011). BMC Cell Biology 12: 9

Fast evolution of a core component of the RNAi machinery
Natural variation of the amino-terminal glutamine-rich domain of Drosophila Argonaute2 is not associated with developmental defects D. Hain, B. Bettencourt, K. Okamura, T. Csorba, W. Meyer, Z. Jin, J. Biggerstaff, H. Siomi, G. Hutvagner, E. Lai, M. A. Welte, H.-A.J. Müller (2010). PLoS ONE 5, e15264

Take your embryos for a spin
In-vivo Centrifugation of Drosophila Embryos. Susan L. Tran, Michael A. Welte. JoVE. 40. http://www.jove.com/index/details.stp?id=2005, doi: 10.3791/2005 (2010).

Motor balance by force?
Bidirectional transport: Matchmaking for motors. M. A. Welte. Curr. Biol. 20: R410-R413 (2010).

Lipid-droplet motion – a primer
Fat on the move: Intracellular motion of lipid droplets. M. A. Welte. Biochem. Soc. Trans. 37:991-996 (2009).

Getting Fat down PAT
“PAT proteins, an ancient family of lipid droplet proteins that regulate cellular lipid stores”. Perry E. Bickel, John T. Tansey, Michael A. Welte. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 1791:419-440 (2009).

Counting Motors
“Consequences of motor copy number on the intracellular transport of kinesin-1–driven lipid droplets”. G. T. Shubeita, S. L. Tran, J. Xu, M. Vershinin, S. Cermelli, S.L. Cotton, M. A. Welte, S. P. Gross. Cell 135:1098-1107 (2008). Abstract
This article was highlighted in a Preview in the same issue of Cell.

Tug-of-war or coordinated motion: Maybe both ideas are true
“Molecular Motors: a traffic cop within?” M. A. Welte and S. P. Gross. HFSP J 2:178-182 (2008). Abstract

Lipid droplets: beyond fat
“Proteins under new management: lipid droplets deliver“. Welte, M.A.  TCB  17:363-369 (2007).

Lipid droplets are protein storage depots
“The lipid-droplet proteome reveals that droplets are a protein storage depot”. S. Cermelli, Y. Guo, S. P. Gross, M. A. Welte. Curr. Biol. 16:1783-1795 (2006). Abstract
This paper was highlighted in a Dispatch article in Current Biology.

Role of Argonaute proteins in embryonic development
“Overlapping functions of Argonaute proteins in patterning and morphogenesis of Drosophila embryos”. W. Meyer, S. Schreiber, Y. Guo, T. Volkmann, M. A. Welte, H.-A.J. Muller. PLoS Genetics 2: 1224-1239 (2006). Abstract

LSD2: A conductor for droplet transport
“Regulation of lipid-droplet transport by the Perilipin homologue LSD2”. M. A. Welte, S. Cermelli, J. Griner, A. Viera, Y. Guo, D.-H. Kim, J. G. Gindhart, S. P. Gross. Curr. Biol. 15:1266-1275 (2005). Abstract
This paper was highlighted in a Dispatch article in Current Biology.

Isoform variation of the coordinator Klar
“Organelle-specific control of intracellular transport: Distinctly targeted isoforms of the regulator Klar “. Y. Guo, S. Jangi, M. A. Welte. Mol. Biol. Cell 16:1406-1416 (2005). Abstract

Bidirectional transport – a review
“Bidirectional transport along microtubules “. M. A. Welte. Curr. Biol. 14:R525-R537 (2004). Abstract

Determining Direction
“A Determinant for Directionality of Organelle Transport in Drosophila Embryos”. SP Gross, Y Guo, JE Martinez, MA Welte. Curr. Biol. 13:1660-1668 (2003). Abstract
This paper was highlighted in a Dispatch article in Current Biology.

Are opposite-polarity motors coordinated?
“Coordination of opposite-polarity microtubule motors”. S P Gross, MA Welte, S M Block, E F Wieschaus. J Cell Biol. 156:715-724 (2002). Abstract

Control of Cytoplasmic Dynein 
“Dynein-mediated cargo transport in vivo. A switch controls travel distance“. SP Gross, MA Welte, SM Block, EF Wieschaus. J Cell Biol. 148:945-956 (2000). Abstract

Klar Functions in Nuclear Migration and Lipid Droplet Transport in early Drosophila embryos
“Developmental regulation of vesicle transport in Drosophila embryos: forces and kinetics“. MA Welte, SP Gross, M Postner, SM Block, EF Wieschaus. Cell 92:547-557 (1998). Abstract
This paper was highlighted in a Dispatch article in Current Biology.

Identifying the crucial lesion in a heat-induced developmental defect
“The basis for a heat-induced developmental defect: defining crucial lesions“. MA Welte, I Duncan, S Lindquist. Genes Dev. 9:2240-2250 (1995).

Heat-Shock Protein 70 (Hsp70) protects against heat stress
“A new method for manipulating transgenes: Engineering heat tolerance in a complex multicellular organism“. MA Welte, JM Tetrault, RP Dellavalle, S Lindquist. Curr Biol 3:842-853 (1993). Abstract

Hsp70 in Stress Tolerance

“Heat-Shock Proteins in Stress Tolerance”. S Lindquist, DA Parsell, Y Sanchez, J Taulien, EA Craig, MA Welte. UOEH 15:1-10 (Suppl.) (1993).