Sec14-like phosphatidylinositol-transfer proteins and diversification of phosphoinositide signalling outcomes

The physiological functions of phosphatidylinositol (PtdIns)-transfer proteins (PITPs)/phosphatidylcholine (PtdCho)-transfer proteins are poorly characterized, even though these proteins are conserved throughout the eukaryotic kingdom. Much of the progress in elucidating PITP functions has come from exploitation of genetically tractable model organisms, but the mechanisms for how PITPs execute their biological activities remain unclear. Structural and molecular dynamics approaches are filling in the details for how these proteins actually work as molecules. In the present paper, we discuss our recent work with Sec14-like PITPs and describe how PITPs integrate diverse territories of the lipid metabolome with phosphoinositide signalling.