Visualization of Lipid Droplets in C. elegans by Light and Electron Microscopy

The powerful forward and reverse genetic tools, and emerging sets of biochemical assays for fat metabolites, make Caenorhabditis elegans an attractive model organism for elucidating conserved mechanisms in fat storage. The ability to observe lipid droplets in live animals at single cell resolution offers a unique advantage for studying cellular fat storage in vivo . In this chapter, we describe transgenic technologies for expressing fluorescent lipid droplet marker proteins at near-physiological levels. Methods to visualize these markers using sensitive confocal microscopy systems are detailed. Additional methods for visualizing lipid droplets by transmission electron microscopy and detection of lipid droplet associated proteins by immunoelectron microscopy are described.