Organelle Homeostasis

The major criterion distinguishing eukaryotes from prokaryotes is the presence of organelles in the former. An organelle is a subcellular structure that has one or more specific jobs to perform in the cell, much like an organ does in the body. Eukaryotic cells can rapidly adjust the abundance, size and shape of their organelles according to physiological needs. This remarkable capacity for adaptation enables cells to maintain homeostasis during stress, differentiation and disease. We are interested in the mechanisms cells use to ensure organelle homeostasis. We study the following two processes: 1) organelle biogenesis, including morphology generation, organelle inheritance during cell division, protein import and lipid transfer during organelle de novo synthesis; 2) organelle degradation, particularly through the receptor-mediated selective autophagy pathway.