A three-organelle complex made by wrappER contacts with peroxisome and mitochondria responds to liver lipid flux changes
Hepatic lipid homeostasis depends on intracellular pathways that respire fatty acid (FA) in peroxisomes and mitochondria and on systemic pathways that secrete FA into the bloodstream, either free or condensed in very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) triglycerides. These systemic and intracellular pathways are interdependent, but it is unclear whether and how they integrate into a single cellular circuit. Here, we report that mouse liver wrappER, a distinct ER compartment with apparent FA- and VLDL-secretion functions, connects peroxisomes and mitochondria. Correlative light electron microscopy, quantitative serial section electron tomography, and 3D organelle reconstruction analysis show that the number of peroxisome-wrappER-mitochondria complexes changes throughout fasting-to-feeding transitions and doubles when VLDL synthesis stops following acute genetic ablation of Mttp in the liver. Quantitative proteomic analysis of peroxisome-wrappER-mitochondria complex-enriched fractions indicates that the loss of Mttp upregulates global FA β-oxidation, thereby integrating the dynamics of this three-organelle association into hepatic FA flux responses. Therefore, liver lipid homeostasis occurs through the convergence of systemic and intracellular FA-elimination pathways in the peroxisome-wrappER-mitochondria complex.