Lipid droplets: New roles as mediators of biotic and abiotic stress

In an ever-changing environment, plants must respond to a wide array of abiotic and biotic stress.Many studies describe transcriptomic and proteomic changes in response to stress and even unveil functional implications of these changes (Crawford et al., 2018, Kumar et al., 2016, Zhu, 2016).While less well-studied, lipidomic changes also play critical roles in plant responses to abiotic and biotic stress (Niu and Xiang, 2018).For example, changing membrane lipid composition and modifications can contribute to a more appropriate barrier against stress, and lipid remodeling mechanisms can also allow cells to restructure the protein content of their internal and external membranes (Niu and Xiang, 2018).In this issue of Plant Physiology, Scholz et al. describe protein composition and lipid modification changes in response to fungal and bacterial challenge as well as heat stress in Arabidopsis leaves (Scholz et al., 2024).Their results suggest an intriguing potential role for lipid droplets in stress-related membrane remodeling and reveal a previously uncharacterized interplay between lipid remodeling mechanisms and defense hormone regulation.Interest in lipid droplets (LDs) has surged due to recent advances in our understanding of their diverse functional capabilities.LDs consist of a hydrophobic core of neutral lipids surrounded by a monolayer of phospholipids with embedded proteins (Guzha et al., 2023).Much of the LD literature to date focuses on the role LDs play in lipid storage, particularly in oilseeds (Bouchnak et al., 2023).However, during stress Scholz et al. propose that LDs may serve as crucial sinks for acyl chains removed from the plasma and plastid membranes and sources for free sterols or