Imaging lipids in living plants

Phospholipids are important constituents of biological membranes, most of them fulfilling a structural role. However, it has become clear that in plants, just as in mammalian and yeast cells, some minor phospholipids, e.g. phosphoinositides, are important regulators of cellular function, providing docking sites for target proteins via lipid-binding domains, and/or modulating their enzymatic activity. The application of fluorescent proteins fused to lipid-binding domains to create the so-called, lipid biosensors, sheds new light on lipid molecules in living plant cells. Here, an overview is presented regarding their application.