Lipidome Unsaturation Affects the Morphology and Proteome of the Drosophila Eye.

Organisms respond to dietary and environmental challenges by altering the molecular composition of their glycerolipids and glycerophospholipids (GPLs), which may favorably adjust the physicochemical properties of lipid membranes. However, how lipidome changes affect the membrane proteome and, eventually, the physiology of specific organs is an open question. We addressed this issue in Drosophila melanogaster, which is not able to synthesize sterols and polyunsaturated fatty acids but can acquire them from food. We developed a series of semisynthetic foods to manipulate the length and unsaturation of fatty acid moieties in GPLs and singled out proteins whose abundance is specifically affected by membrane lipid unsaturation in the Drosophila eye. Unexpectedly, we identified a group of proteins that have muscle-related functions and increased their abundances under unsaturated eye lipidome conditions. In contrast, the abundance of two stress response proteins, Turandot A and Smg5, is decreased by lipid unsaturation. Our findings could guide the genetic dissection of homeostatic mechanisms that maintain visual function when the eye is exposed to environmental and dietary challenges.

Abnormal accumulation of lipid droplets in neurons induces the conversion of alpha-Synuclein to proteolytic resistant forms in a Drosophila model of Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by alpha-synuclein (αSyn) aggregation and associated with abnormalities in lipid metabolism. The accumulation of lipids in cytoplasmic organelles called lipid droplets (LDs) was observed in cellular models of PD. To investigate the pathophysiological consequences of interactions between αSyn and proteins that regulate the homeostasis of LDs, we used a transgenic Drosophila model of PD, in which human αSyn is specifically expressed in photoreceptor neurons. We first found that overexpression of the LD-coating proteins Perilipin 1 or 2 (dPlin1/2), which limit the access of lipases to LDs, markedly increased triacylglyclerol (TG) loaded LDs in neurons. However, dPlin-induced-LDs in neurons are independent of lipid anabolic (diacylglycerol acyltransferase 1/midway, fatty acid transport protein/dFatp) and catabolic (brummer TG lipase) enzymes, indicating that alternative mechanisms regulate neuronal LD homeostasis. Interestingly, the accumulation of LDs induced by various LD proteins (dPlin1, dPlin2, CG7900 or KlarsichtLD-BD) was synergistically amplified by the co-expression of αSyn, which localized to LDs in both Drosophila photoreceptor neurons and in human neuroblastoma cells. Finally, the accumulation of LDs increased the resistance of αSyn to proteolytic digestion, a characteristic of αSyn aggregation in human neurons. We propose that αSyn cooperates with LD proteins to inhibit lipolysis and that binding of αSyn to LDs contributes to the pathogenic misfolding and aggregation of αSyn in neurons.

Eye proteome of Drosophila melanogaster.

Drosophila melanogaster is a popular model organism to elucidate the molecular mechanisms that underlie the structure and function of the eye as well as the causes of retinopathies, aging, light-induced damage, or dietary deficiencies. Large-scale screens have isolated genes whose mutation causes morphological and functional ocular defects, which led to the discovery of key components of the phototransduction cascade. However, the proteome of the Drosophila eye is poorly characterized. Here, we used GeLC-MS/MS to quantify 3516 proteins, including the absolute (molar) quantities of 43 proteins in the eye of adult male Drosophila reared on standard laboratory food. This work provides a generic and expandable resource for further genetic, pharmacological, and dietary studies.

Loss of hepatic Mboat7 leads to liver fibrosis.

OBJECTIVE: The rs641738C>T variant located near the membrane-bound O-acyltransferase domain containing 7 (MBOAT7) locus is associated with fibrosis in liver diseases, including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), alcohol-related liver disease, hepatitis B and C. We aim to understand the mechanism by which the rs641738C>T variant contributes to pathogenesis of NAFLD. DESIGN: Mice with hepatocyte-specific deletion of MBOAT7 (Mboat7Δhep) were generated and livers were characterised by histology, flow cytometry, qPCR, RNA sequencing and lipidomics. We analysed the association of rs641738C>T genotype with liver inflammation and fibrosis in 846 NAFLD patients and obtained genotype-specific liver lipidomes from 280 human biopsies. RESULTS: Allelic imbalance analysis of heterozygous human liver samples pointed to lower expression of the MBOAT7 transcript on the rs641738C>T haplotype. Mboat7Δhep mice showed spontaneous steatosis characterised by increased hepatic cholesterol ester content after 10 weeks. After 6 weeks on a high fat, methionine-low, choline-deficient diet, mice developed increased hepatic fibrosis as measured by picrosirius staining (p<0.05), hydroxyproline content (p<0.05) and transcriptomics, while the inflammatory cell populations and inflammatory mediators were minimally affected. In a human biopsied NAFLD cohort, MBOAT7 rs641738C>T was associated with fibrosis (p=0.004) independent of the presence of histological inflammation. Liver lipidomes of Mboat7Δhep mice and human rs641738TT carriers with fibrosis showed increased total lysophosphatidylinositol levels. The altered lysophosphatidylinositol and phosphatidylinositol subspecies in MBOAT7Δhep livers and human rs641738TT carriers were similar. CONCLUSION: Mboat7 deficiency in mice and human points to an inflammation-independent pathway of liver fibrosis that may be mediated by lipid signalling and a potentially targetable treatment option in NAFLD.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease stratification by liver lipidomics.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common metabolic dysfunction leading to hepatic steatosis. However, NAFLD's global impact on the liver lipidome is poorly understood. Using high-resolution shotgun mass spectrometry, we quantified the molar abundance of 316 species from 22 major lipid classes in liver biopsies of 365 patients, including nonsteatotic patients with normal or excessive weight, patients diagnosed with NAFL (nonalcoholic fatty liver) or NASH (nonalcoholic steatohepatitis), and patients bearing common mutations of NAFLD-related protein factors. We confirmed the progressive accumulation of di- and triacylglycerols and cholesteryl esters in the liver of NAFL and NASH patients, while the bulk composition of glycerophospho- and sphingolipids remained unchanged. Further stratification by biclustering analysis identified sphingomyelin species comprising n24:2 fatty acid moieties as membrane lipid markers of NAFLD. Normalized relative abundance of sphingomyelins SM 43:3;2 and SM 43:1;2 containing n24:2 and n24:0 fatty acid moieties, respectively, showed opposite trends during NAFLD progression and distinguished NAFL and NASH lipidomes from the lipidome of nonsteatotic livers. Together with several glycerophospholipids containing a C22:6 fatty acid moiety, these lipids serve as markers of early and advanced stages of NAFL.

Long-Term Exposure to Nanosized TiO2 Triggers Stress Responses and Cell Death Pathways in Pulmonary Epithelial Cells.

There is little in vitro data available on long-term effects of TiO2 exposure. Such data are important for improving the understanding of underlying mechanisms of adverse health effects of TiO2. Here, we exposed pulmonary epithelial cells to two doses (0.96 and 1.92 µg/cm2) of TiO2 for 13 weeks and effects on cell cycle and cell death mechanisms, i.e., apoptosis and autophagy were determined after 4, 8 and 13 weeks of exposure. Changes in telomere length, cellular protein levels and lipid classes were also analyzed at 13 weeks of exposure. We observed that the TiO2 exposure increased the fraction of cells in G1-phase and reduced the fraction of cells in G2-phase, which was accompanied by an increase in the fraction of late apoptotic/necrotic cells. This corresponded with an induced expression of key apoptotic proteins i.e., BAD and BAX, and an accumulation of several lipid classes involved in cellular stress and apoptosis. These findings were further supported by quantitative proteome profiling data showing an increase in proteins involved in cell stress and genomic maintenance pathways following TiO2 exposure. Altogether, we suggest that cell stress response and cell death pathways may be important molecular events in long-term health effects of TiO2.

Acetyl-CoA carboxylase 1-dependent lipogenesis promotes autophagy downstream of AMPK.

Autophagy, a membrane-dependent catabolic process, ensures survival of aging cells and depends on the cellular energetic status. Acetyl-CoA carboxylase 1 (Acc1) connects central energy metabolism to lipid biosynthesis and is rate-limiting for the de novo synthesis of lipids. However, it is unclear how de novo lipogenesis and its metabolic consequences affect autophagic activity. Here, we show that in aging yeast, autophagy levels highly depend on the activity of Acc1. Constitutively active Acc1 (acc1S/A ) or a deletion of the Acc1 negative regulator, Snf1 (yeast AMPK), shows elevated autophagy levels, which can be reversed by the Acc1 inhibitor soraphen A. Vice versa, pharmacological inhibition of Acc1 drastically reduces cell survival and results in the accumulation of Atg8-positive structures at the vacuolar membrane, suggesting late defects in the autophagic cascade. As expected, acc1S/A cells exhibit a reduction in acetate/acetyl-CoA availability along with elevated cellular lipid content. However, concomitant administration of acetate fails to fully revert the increase in autophagy exerted by acc1S/A Instead, administration of oleate, while mimicking constitutively active Acc1 in WT cells, alleviates the vacuolar fusion defects induced by Acc1 inhibition. Our results argue for a largely lipid-dependent process of autophagy regulation downstream of Acc1. We present a versatile genetic model to investigate the complex relationship between acetate metabolism, lipid homeostasis, and autophagy and propose Acc1-dependent lipogenesis as a fundamental metabolic path downstream of Snf1 to maintain autophagy and survival during cellular aging.

Shotgun Lipidomics Combined with Laser Capture Microdissection: A Tool To Analyze Histological Zones in Cryosections of Tissues.

Shotgun analysis provides a quantitative snapshot of the lipidome composition of cells, tissues, or model organisms; however, it does not elucidate the spatial distribution of lipids. Here we demonstrate that shotgun analysis could quantify low-picomole amounts of lipids isolated by laser capture microdissection (LCM) of hundred micrometer-sized histological zones visualized at the cryosections of tissues. We identified metabolically distinct periportal (pp) and pericentral (pc) zones by immunostaining of 20 µm thick cryosections of a healthy mouse liver. LCM was used to ablate, catapult, and collect the tissue material from 10 to 20 individual zones covering a total area of 0.3-0.5 mm2 and containing ca. 500 cells. Top-down shotgun profiling relying upon computational stitching of 61 targeted selective ion monitoring ( t-SIM) spectra quantified more than 200 lipid species from 17 lipid classes including glycero- and glycerophospholipids, sphingolipids, cholesterol esters, and cholesterol. Shotgun LCM revealed the overall commonality of the full lipidome composition of pp and pc zones along with significant ( p < 0.001) difference in the relative abundance of 13 lipid species. Follow-up proteomics analyses of pellets recovered from an aqueous phase saved after the lipid extraction identified 13 known and 7 new protein markers exclusively present in pp or in pc zones and independently validated the specificity of their visualization, isolation, and histological assignment.

α/ß Hydrolase Domain-containing 6 (ABHD6) Degrades the Late Endosomal/Lysosomal Lipid Bis(monoacylglycero)phosphate.

α/ß Hydrolase domain-containing 6 (ABHD6) can act as monoacylglycerol hydrolase and is believed to play a role in endocannabinoid signaling as well as in the pathogenesis of obesity and liver steatosis. However, the mechanistic link between gene function and disease is incompletely understood. Here we aimed to further characterize the role of ABHD6 in lipid metabolism. We show that mouse and human ABHD6 degrade bis(monoacylglycero)phosphate (BMP) with high specific activity. BMP, also known as lysobisphosphatidic acid, is enriched in late endosomes/lysosomes, where it plays a key role in the formation of intraluminal vesicles and in lipid sorting. Up to now, little has been known about the catabolism of this lipid. Our data demonstrate that ABHD6 is responsible for ∼ 90% of the BMP hydrolase activity detected in the liver and that knockdown of ABHD6 increases hepatic BMP levels. Tissue fractionation and live-cell imaging experiments revealed that ABHD6 co-localizes with late endosomes/lysosomes. The enzyme is active at cytosolic pH and lacks acid hydrolase activity, implying that it degrades BMP exported from acidic organelles or de novo-formed BMP. In conclusion, our data suggest that ABHD6 controls BMP catabolism and is therefore part of the late endosomal/lysosomal lipid-sorting machinery.

Seipin is involved in the regulation of phosphatidic acid metabolism at a subdomain of the nuclear envelope in yeast.

Yeast Fld1 and Ldb16 resemble mammalian seipin, implicated in neutral lipid storage. Both proteins form a complex at the endoplasmic reticulum-lipid droplet (LD) interface. Malfunction of this complex either leads to LD clustering or to the generation of supersized LD (SLD) in close vicinity to the nuclear envelope, in response to altered phospholipid (PL) composition. We show that similar to mutants lacking Fld1, deletion of LDB16 leads to abnormal proliferation of a subdomain of the nuclear envelope, which is tightly associated with clustered LD. The human lipin-1 ortholog, the PAH1 encoded phosphatidic acid (PA) phosphatase, and its activator Nem1 are highly enriched at this site. The specific accumulation of PA-binding marker proteins indicates a local enrichment of PA in the fld1 and ldb16 mutants. Furthermore, we demonstrate that clustered LD in fld1 or ldb16 mutants are transformed to SLD if phosphatidylcholine synthesis is compromised by additional deletion of the phosphatidylethanolamine methyltransferase, Cho2. Notably, treatment of wild-type cells with oleate induced a similar LD clustering and nuclear membrane proliferation phenotype as observed in fld1 and ldb16 mutants. These data suggest that the Fld1-Ldb16 complex affects PA homeostasis at an LD-forming subdomain of the nuclear envelope. Lack of Fld1-Ldb16 leads to locally elevated PA levels that induce an abnormal proliferation of nER membrane structures and the clustering of associated LD. We suggest that the formation of SLD is a consequence of locally altered PL metabolism at this site.

Quantifying yeast lipidomics by high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) and comparison to mass spectrometry-based shotgun lipidomics.

Lipidomic analysis in diverse biological settings has become a frequent tool to increase our understanding of the processes of life. Cellular lipids play important roles not only as being the main components of cellular membranes, but also in the regulation of cell homeostasis as lipid signaling molecules. Yeast has been harnessed for biomedical research based on its good conservation of genetics and fundamental cell organisation principles and molecular pathways. Further application in so-called humanised yeast models have been developed which take advantage of yeast as providing the basics of a living cell with full control over heterologous expression. Here we present evidence that high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) represents an effective alternative to replace cost intensive mass spectrometry-based lipidomic analyses. We provide statistical comparison of identical samples by both methods, which support the use of HPTLC for quantitative analysis of the main yeast lipid classes.

The emergence of lipid droplets in yeast: current status and experimental approaches.

The 'discovery' of lipid droplets as a metabolically highly active subcellular organelle has sparked great scientific interest in its research in recent years. The previous view of a rather inert storage pool of neutral lipids--triacylglycerol and sterols or steryl esters--has markedly changed. Driven by the endemic dimensions of lipid-associated disorders on the one hand, and the promising biotechnological application to generate oils ('biodiesel') from single-celled organisms on the other, multiple model organisms are exploited in basic and applied research to develop a better understanding of biogenesis and metabolism of this organelle. This article summarizes the current status of LD research in yeast and experimental approaches to obtain insight into the regulatory and structural components driving lipid droplet formation and their physiological and pathophysiological roles in lipid homeostasis.

Enhanced membrane protein expression by engineering increased intracellular membrane production.

BACKGROUND: Membrane protein research is frequently hampered by the low natural abundance of these proteins in cells and typically relies on recombinant gene expression. Different expression systems, like mammalian cells, insect cells, bacteria and yeast are being used, but very few research efforts have been directed towards specific host cell customization for enhanced expression of membrane proteins. Here we show that by increasing the intracellular membrane production by interfering with a key enzymatic step of lipid synthesis, enhanced expression of membrane proteins in yeast is achieved. RESULTS: We engineered the oleotrophic yeast, Yarrowia lipolytica, by deleting the phosphatidic acid phosphatase, PAH1, which led to massive proliferation of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membranes. For all eight tested representatives of different integral membrane protein families, we obtained enhanced protein accumulation levels and in some cases enhanced proteolytic integrity in the ∆pah1 strain. We analysed the adenosine A2AR G-protein coupled receptor case in more detail and found that concomitant induction of the unfolded protein response in the ∆pah1 strain enhanced the specific ligand binding activity of the receptor. These data indicate an improved quality control mechanism for membrane proteins accumulating in yeast cells with proliferated ER. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that redirecting the metabolic flux of fatty acids away from triacylglycerol- and sterylester-storage towards membrane phospholipid synthesis by PAH1 gene inactivation, provides a valuable approach to enhance eukaryotic membrane protein production. Complementary to this improvement in membrane protein quantity, UPR co-induction further enhances the quality of the membrane protein in terms of its proper folding and biological activity. Importantly, since these pathways are conserved in all eukaryotes, it will be of interest to investigate similar engineering approaches in other cell types of biotechnological interest, such as insect cells and mammalian cells.

A dynamic actin cytoskeleton is required to prevent constitutive VDAC-dependent MAPK signalling and aberrant lipid homeostasis.

The dynamic nature of the actin cytoskeleton is required to coordinate many cellular processes, and a loss of its plasticity has been linked to accelerated cell aging and attenuation of adaptive response mechanisms. Cofilin is an actin-binding protein that controls actin dynamics and has been linked to mitochondrial signaling pathways that control drug resistance and cell death. Here we show that cofilin-driven chronic depolarization of the actin cytoskeleton activates cell wall integrity mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signalling and disrupts lipid homeostasis in a voltage-dependent anion channel (VDAC)-dependent manner. Expression of the cof1-5 mutation, which reduces the dynamic nature of actin, triggers loss of cell wall integrity, vacuole fragmentation, disruption of lipid homeostasis, lipid droplet (LD) accumulation, and the promotion of cell death. The integrity of the actin cytoskeleton is therefore essential to maintain the fidelity of MAPK signaling, lipid homeostasis, and cell health in S. cerevisiae.

Eye proteome of Drosophila melanogaster.

The Drosophila melanogaster eye is a popular model to elucidate the molecular mechanisms that underlie the structure and function of the eye as well as the causes of retinopathies. For instance, the Drosophila eye has been used to investigate the impacts of ageing and environmental stresses such as light-induced damage or dietary deficiencies. Moreover, large-scale screens have isolated genes whose mutation causes morphological and functional ocular defects, which includes key components of the phototransduction cascade. However, the proteome of the Drosophila eye is poorly characterized. Here, we used GeLC-MS/MS to quantify 3516 proteins he adult Drosophila melanogaster eye and provide a generic and expandable resource for further genetic, pharmacological, and dietary studies.

Lipidome unsaturation affects the morphology and proteome of the Drosophila eye.

While the proteome of an organism is largely determined by the genome, the lipidome is shaped by a poorly understood interplay of environmental factors and metabolic processes. To gain insights into the underlying mechanisms, we analyzed the impacts of dietary lipid manipulations on the ocular proteome of Drosophila melanogaster . We manipulated the lipidome with synthetic food media that differed in the supplementation of an equal amount of saturated or polyunsaturated triacylglycerols. This allowed us to generate flies whose eyes had a highly contrasting length and unsaturation of glycerophospholipids, the major lipid class of biological membranes, while the abundance of other membrane lipid classes remained unchanged. By bioinformatically comparing the resulting ocular proteomic trends and contrasting them with the impacts of vitamin A deficiency, we identified ocular proteins whose abundances are differentially affected by lipid saturation and unsaturation. For instance, we unexpectedly identified a group of proteins that have muscle-related functions and increase their abundances in the eye upon lipidome unsaturation but are unaffected by lipidome saturation. Moreover, we identified two differentially lipid-responsive proteins involved in stress responses, Turandot A and Smg5, whose abundances decrease with lipid unsaturation. Lastly, we discovered that the ocular lipid class composition is robust to dietary changes and propose that this may be a general homeostatic feature of the organization of eukaryotic tissues, while the length and unsaturation of fatty acid moieties is more variable to compensate environmental challenges. We anticipate that these insights into the molecular responses of the Drosophila eye proteome to specific lipid manipulations will guide the genetic dissection of the mechanisms that maintain visual function when the eye is exposed to dietary challenges.

The PNPLA3 variant I148M reveals protective effects toward hepatocellular carcinoma in mice via restoration of omega-3 polyunsaturated fats.

Alcohol consumption and high caloric diet are leading causes of progressive fatty liver disease. Genetic variant rs738409 in patatin-like phospholipase domain-containing protein 3 (PNPLA3 rs738409 C>G) has been repeatedly described as one of the major risk loci for alcoholic liver cirrhosis (ALC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in humans, however, the mechanism behind this association is incompletely understood. We generated mice carrying the rs738409 variant (PNPLA3 I148M) in order to detect genotype-phenotype relationships in mice upon chow and alcohol-high fat/high sugar diet (EtOH/WD). We could clearly demonstrate that the presence of rs738409 per se is sufficient to induce spontaneous development of steatosis after 1 year in mice on a chow diet, whereas in the setting of unhealthy diet feeding, PNPLA3 I148M did not affect hepatic inflammation or fibrosis, but induced a striking lipid remodeling, microvesicular steatosis and protected from HCC formation. Using shot gun lipidomics, we detected a striking restoration of reduced long chain-polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA)-containing TGs, docosapentaenoic acid (C22:5 n3) and omega-3-derived eicosanoids (5-HEPE, 20-HEPE, 19,20-EDP, 21-HDHA) in PNPLA3 I148M mice upon EtOH/WD. At the molecular level, PNPLA3 I148M modulated enzymes for fatty acid and TG transport and metabolism. These findings suggest (dietary) lipids as an important and independent driver of hepatic tumorigenesis. Genetic variant in PNPLA3 exerted protective effects in mice, conflicting with findings in humans. Species-related differences in physiology and metabolism should be taken into account when modeling unhealthy human lifestyle, as genetic mouse models may not always allow for translation of insight gained in humans.

Vitamin A Deficiency Alters the Phototransduction Machinery and Distinct Non-Vision-Specific Pathways in the Drosophila Eye Proteome.

The requirement of vitamin A for the synthesis of the visual chromophore and the light-sensing pigments has been studied in vertebrate and invertebrate model organisms. To identify the molecular mechanisms that orchestrate the ocular response to vitamin A deprivation, we took advantage of the fact that Drosophila melanogaster predominantly requires vitamin A for vision, but not for development or survival. We analyzed the impacts of vitamin A deficiency on the morphology, the lipidome, and the proteome of the Drosophila eye. We found that chronic vitamin A deprivation damaged the light-sensing compartments and caused a dramatic loss of visual pigments, but also decreased the molar abundance of most phototransduction proteins that amplify and transduce the visual signal. Unexpectedly, vitamin A deficiency also decreased the abundances of specific subunits of mitochondrial TCA cycle and respiratory chain components but increased the levels of cuticle- and lens-related proteins. In contrast, we found no apparent effects of vitamin A deficiency on the ocular lipidome. In summary, chronic vitamin A deficiency decreases the levels of most components of the visual signaling pathway, but also affects molecular pathways that are not vision-specific and whose mechanistic connection to vitamin A remains to be elucidated.

Hormone-sensitive lipase couples intergenerational sterol metabolism to reproductive success.

Triacylglycerol (TG) and steryl ester (SE) lipid storage is a universal strategy to maintain organismal energy and membrane homeostasis. Cycles of building and mobilizing storage fat are fundamental in (re)distributing lipid substrates between tissues or to progress ontogenetic transitions. In this study, we show that Hormone-sensitive lipase (Hsl) specifically controls SE mobilization to initiate intergenerational sterol transfer in Drosophila melanogaster. Tissue-autonomous Hsl functions in the maternal fat body and germline coordinately prevent adult SE overstorage and maximize sterol allocation to embryos. While Hsl-deficiency is largely dispensable for normal development on sterol-rich diets, animals depend on adipocyte Hsl for optimal fecundity when dietary sterol becomes limiting. Notably, accumulation of SE but not of TG is a characteristic of Hsl-deficient cells across phyla including murine white adipocytes. In summary, we identified Hsl as an ancestral regulator of SE degradation, which improves intergenerational sterol transfer and reproductive success in flies.

Shotgun lipidomics and mass spectrometry imaging unveil diversity and dynamics in Gammarus fossarum lipid composition.

Sentinel species are playing an indispensable role in monitoring environmental pollution in aquatic ecosystems. Many pollutants found in water prove to be endocrine disrupting chemicals that could cause disruptions in lipid homeostasis in aquatic species. A comprehensive profiling of the lipidome of these species is thus an essential step toward understanding the mechanism of toxicity induced by pollutants. Both the composition and spatial distribution of lipids in freshwater crustacean Gammarus fossarum were extensively examined herein. The baseline lipidome of gammarids of different sex and reproductive stages was established by high throughput shotgun lipidomics. Spatial lipid mapping by high resolution mass spectrometry imaging led to the discovery of sulfate-based lipids in hepatopancreas and their accumulation in mature oocytes. A diverse and dynamic lipid composition in G. fossarum was uncovered, which deepens our understanding of the biochemical changes during development and which could serve as a reference for future ecotoxicological studies.