The era of “smart” organelles

Organelles are the fundamental units of cellular organization, and our understanding of their roles in cell physiology has evolved dramatically since they first were described in the early 20th century. Though organelles originally were thought of as simple compartments for biochemical reactions and confined to eukaryotes, new studies have revealed “smart” roles for them in fine-tuning metabolism as well as serving as platforms coordinating signaling and quality-control pathways in both bacteria and eukaryotes.

Recent work illuminates the organizational principles governing how organelles cleverly coordinate cell quality control. These reveal how organelles create microenvironments for metabolic pathways, how they facilitate interorganelle communication to sense and respond to specific cues, and how the phase properties of lipids and proteins equip organelles to protect cells from stress and maintain organismal homeostasis.

Our symposia at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology’s annual meeting, Discover BMB, in Seattle in March illustrate these themes and feature work in an array of fields, including prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell biology, cancer biology, and phase separation biophysics.

Just like in the song “Whatever It Takes” by Imagine Dragons, organelles are equipped to do whatever is necessary for cells to adapt and survive the ever-present challenges of life.

Keywords: Bacterial microcompartments, interorganelle communication, protein and lipid phase separation, mitochondrial metabolism.

Who should attend: Anyone interested in learning how organelles are constructed, organized and responsive to signals. Also people interested in the phase properties of proteins and lipids in organelle biology.

Theme song: “Whatever It Takes” by Imagine Dragons.

The session is powered by lipids, proteins and cellular stress.