Advanced lipidomics to illuminate the physiological importance of LipoQuality

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project Area: Quality of lipids in biological systems
• Project/Area Number: 15H05898
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (Research in a proposed research area)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Review Section: Biological Sciences
• Research Institution: Institute of Physical and Chemical Research
• Principal Investigator: ARITA Makoto 国立研究開発法人理化学研究所, 生命医科学研究センター, チームリーダー (80292952)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 有田 正規 国立遺伝学研究所, 生命情報研究センター, 教授 (10356389) ; 瀬藤 光利 浜松医科大学, 国際マスイメージングセンター, センター長 (20302664)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-06-29 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 脂質 / メタボロミクス / 生理活性 / 生体成分 / イメージング / 質量分析

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Precise and global determination of each molecular species of lipid is a prerequisite for understanding their functions in physiology and disease, and for discovering novel bioactive lipids that may hold key to understand biology. In this study, we successfully established a non-targeted lipidomics platform that covers more than 8000 species of lipids. This system, when combined with targeted analysis, enabled us to capture lipid profiles more comprehensively, accurately and unbiasedly. This platform is powerful for visualizing lipid networks unbiasedly, and opened up a new avenue for discovering novel links between lipid metabolism and biological phenotypes. As for lipid imaging, we could successfully image fatty acid localization within single cells at a resolution of 200 nm.

Free Research Field

脂質生化学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本計画研究では、脂質の構造多様性やその分布・局在を可視化するための独創的かつ革新的な分析手法を確立した。これにより、脂質の質（リポクオリティ）が関わるバイオロジーの解明、さらに未知の生理活性脂質の同定が進むことが期待される。また、リポクオリティの変化による疾患制御の概念実証、および治療標的となりうる機能作用点の特定を目指す研究が推進され、多分野に脂質研究の裾野が広がることが期待される。