Peroxisomes in lipid metabolism

Gene targeting and the elucidation of mutations underlying inherited peroxi somal diseases have provided new insights in peroxisomal lipid metabolism i n vivo. The work led to the identification of a novel peroxisomal beta-oxid ation pathway and established clearly that genes, which are required for ef ficient peroxisomal oxidation of fatty acids, at the same time are key regu lators of PPAR alpha function in vivo. The new mouse models may provide hel pful tools in the search for unknown natural PPAR alpha agonists and in scr eening for in vivo PPAR alpha antagonists. (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.