Ecological lipidology

Dietary lipids (DLs), particularly sterols and fatty acids, are precursors for endogenous lipids that, unusually for macronutrients, shape cellular and organismal function long after ingestion. These functions - cell membrane structure, intracellular signalling, and hormonal activity - vary with the identity of DLs, and scale up to influence health, survival, and reproductive fitness, thereby affecting evolutionary change. Our Ecological Lipidology approach integrates biochemical mechanisms and molecular cell biology into evolution and nutritional ecology. It exposes our need to understand environmental impacts on lipidomes, the lipid specificity of cell functions, and predicts the evolution of lipid-based diet choices. Broad interdisciplinary implications of Ecological Lipidology include food web alterations, species responses to environmental change, as well as sex differences and lifestyle impacts on human nutrition, and opportunities for DL-based therapies.

Automated summary

Dietary lipids can have long-term effects on cellular and organismal function, influencing health, survival, and reproductive fitness. The field of Ecological Lipidology combines biochemistry, molecular cell biology, evolution, and nutritional ecology to understand the impact of environmental factors on lipidomes, the specific functions of lipids in cells, and the evolution of lipid-based diet choices. This interdisciplinary approach has implications for food web dynamics, species responses to environmental change, sex differences and lifestyle impacts on human nutrition, and potential therapeutic applications of dietary lipids.