Chinese Bulletin of Botany ›› 2021, Vol. 56 ›› Issue (5): 627-640.DOI: 10.11983/CBB21045

• SPECIAL TOPICS • Previous Articles    

Research Advances in Oxysterol-binding Protein-related Proteins

Wenjiao Zou1,3, Lei Ge2, Qian Yu2,*()   

  1. 1State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, College of Life Sciences, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an 271018, China
    2Center for Crop Panomics, College of Agronomy, Qingdao Agriculture University, Qingdao 266109, China
    3Innovation Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan 250355, China
  • Received:2021-03-09 Accepted:2021-05-27 Online:2021-09-01 Published:2021-08-31
  • Contact: Qian Yu

Abstract: Membrane lipids not only are important components of cell membranes, but also participate in signal transduction as signal molecules. The uneven distribution of lipid molecules in membranes requires specific types of transport channels and transporters for each lipid type. Oxysterol-binding protein (OSBP)-related proteins (ORPs) are a highly conserved family of lipid transport proteins that recognize and transport phosphoinositides and sterols, which are involved in many physiological processes including signal transduction, vesicle transport, lipid metabolism and non-vesicle transport, and hence play a very important role in the growth and development of individual organism. In recent years, a series of important findings have been made on the structure and function of ORPs in mammals and yeasts, but the advances in plants are relatively slow. In this paper, we review the progress of ORPs research in mammals, yeasts and plants, analyze the structural domains of ORPs in plants and the phylogenetical relationship to their homologs in mammals and yeasts, and also provide perspectives on the directions of plant ORPs research in the future.

Key words: oxysterol-binding protein-related proteins, lipid transport, membrane contact site