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The expanding role of mitochondria–lipid droplet contacts in liver and their disruption by MASLD

By determining the organellar topology and proteome of fat-oxidizing and fat-synthesizing hepatocytes, Kang et al. show that perilipin 5-mediated mitochondria–lipid droplet contacts facilitate the expansion of lipid droplets in both populations and are impaired in early metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD).

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Fig. 1: PLIN5-mediated mitochondria–LD interaction facilitates fatty acid esterification into triglycerides to expand LDs, which is disrupted by a Western diet.

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Correspondence to Marc Liesa.

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Competing interests

M.L. is a co‐founder of Enspire Bio LLC, was a consultant for Capacity Bio and has received sponsored research agreements from Bantam Pharmaceutical, Janssen and Amgen, and a technical support contract with Senergy Bio. J.S. declares no competing interests.

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Segalés, J., Liesa, M. The expanding role of mitochondria–lipid droplet contacts in liver and their disruption by MASLD. Nat Metab 8, 527–528 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-026-01483-2

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