Organellar lipidomics - background and perspectives

The basic structural units of eukaryotic cells are membrane-bound organelles and many essential cellular processes take place in and on membranes. It is becoming increasingly clear that these processes are influenced by the biophysical properties of the organelle membranes, which in turn are affected by their lipid composition. Even subtle changes in lipid composition can have a tremendous impact on membrane properties and the processes occurring within them. Therefore, in order to understand the contribution of membrane lipid composition to the functionality of membrane-bound cellular processes, comprehensive structural and quantitative information on the organellar lipidome is essential. Here we argue that only mass spectrometry-based organellar lipidomics can provide this information today.