aspects are covered in the paper by one of the leaders in this competitive field of research, Jean Bastin, who was first to demon- strate with his collaborators that certain fibrates can restore either LCFA import into mitochondria or beta-oxidation in cells from humans with inborn deficiencies in these pathways. Such a dis- covery opens up new avenues in pharmacological therapies. Be- sides adipose tissue and muscles, the liver is one of the insulin- sensitive tissues with important metabolic functions. In an excel- lent review paper, Groen’s laboratory sheds light on the role of the zonation of lipid and glucose metabolism in the liver on insulin resistance and hepatosteatosis. The influence of cytokines on lipid metabolism is now well established, starting with adipocyte- derived cytokine. The leader in this area of investigations, Philipp Scherer, made the original discovery of adiponectin and deci- phered the role of this adipokine in lipid metabolism and associ- ated diseases. In the current issue, Philipp Scherer and co- authors put to the fore the critical influence of adipokines on the steady-state level of sphingolipids, with a special highlight on ceramide catabolism in insulin resistance, an emerging field in metabolism research. Cell signaling through phospholipases can deeply influence metabolism. Autotaxin is a secreted lyso- phospholipase D that allows lysophosphatidic acid synthesis. The connection between autotaxin and impaired glucose homeo- stasis is thoroughly reviewed in a manuscript from the laboratory of Jean-Sébastien Saulnier-Blache, an expert in this field. Phosphoinositide-specific phospholipase C (PIePLC) plays also a key role in lipid signaling. Plant PIePLCs are the subject of exten- sive studies. Eric Ruelland and his collaborators demonstrate in their manuscript that learning how plant PIePLCs function can have an impact on the general signaling pathways transduced by these proteins in animals. Phospholipases are regulated by very interesting neuropeptides, the orexins, the subject of a contribu- tion by Jyrki Kukkonen.