Intracellular fatty-acid-binding proteins and their genes: Useful models for diverse biological questions

This review describes how a group of small, homologous, intracellular mammalian lipid-binding proteins and their genes have been 'exploited' over the last few years to address a number of questions in fields as diverse as biophysics and cell and developmental biology. Their usefulness as model systems has now been recognized although their precise physiological role(s) remains a mystery.