Sphingolipids are essential membrane components involved in a wide range of cellular, developmental and signaling processes. Sphingolipids are so essential that knock-out mutation often leads to lethality. In recent years, conditional or weak allele mutants as well as the broadening of the pharmacological catalog allowed to decipher sphingolipid function more precisely in a less invasive way. This review intends to provide a discussion and point of view on the function of sphingolipids with a main focus on endomembrane trafficking, Golgi-mediated protein sorting, cell polarity, cell-to-cell communication and cell signaling at the plasma membrane. While our main angle is the plant field research, we will constantly refer to and compare with the advances made in the yeast and animal field. In this review, we will emphasize the role of sphingolipids not only as a membrane component, but also as a key player at a center of homeostatic regulatory networks involving direct or indirect interaction with other lipids, proteins and ion fluxes.

鞘脂是参与广泛的细胞、发育和信号传导过程的重要膜成分。鞘脂是如此重要，以至于敲除突变常常导致致命。近年来，条件或弱等位基因突变体以及药理学目录的拓宽使得能够以侵入性较小的方式更精确地破译鞘脂功能。本综述旨在就鞘脂的功能提供讨论和观点，主要关注内膜运输、高尔基体介导的蛋白质分选、细胞极性、细胞间通讯和质膜上的细胞信号传导。虽然我们的主要角度是植物领域研究，但我们会不断参考和比较酵母和动物领域取得的进展。在这篇综述中，我们将强调鞘脂不仅作为膜成分，而且作为稳态调节网络中心的关键参与者，涉及与其他脂质、蛋白质和离子流的直接或间接相互作用。