Blue light alters cellular lipidome—Light-induced lipidomic changes can be modulated by optogenetically engineered cPLA2α

Light, an inevitable factor for human life, can have negative effects such as cellular inflammation and thus be toxic to cells. Lipids are important biomolecules that are involved in cellular inflammatory responses. Our research revealed the impact of light on cellular lipids. We discovered that blue light irradiation altered cellular lipidome based on non-targeted lipidomic analysis. Inflammation-related lysophospholipids, arachidonic acid, docosahexaenoic acid, and eicosapentaenoic acid, in particular, were significantly increased. We created opto-PiC, an optolipidomic tool based on the optogenetically engineered cPLA2 enzyme. Light-induced lipidomic changes were reversed by opto-PiC. Furthermore, the results showed that opto-PiC reduced cell death rate under blue light. Overall, our research provided lipidomic insights and optolipidomics approach into light toxicity. This could help the therapy development in the future for inflammation-related disease.