Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 13, 2026

Lipid Droplet Isolation for Quantitative Mass Spectrometry Analysis
Published on: April 17, 2017
Do viruses subvert cholesterol homeostasis to induce host cubic membranes?
Yuru Deng1, Zakaria A Almsherqi, Mary M L Ng
1Cubic Membrane Research Laboratory, Department of Physiology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore. phsdy@nus.edu.sg
None:
Biological membranes with cubic morphology are a hallmark of stressed or diseased cellular conditions; both protein-protein interactions and lipid alterations appear to contribute to their biogenesis, yet their specific cellular functions are unknown. The occurrence of cubic membranes strikingly correlates with viral infections; notably, virus entry, proliferation, and release are processes closely linked to cellular cholesterol metabolism, and dys-regulation of cholesterol synthesis at the level of HMG-CoA reductase also induces cubic membrane formation, in the absence of viral infection. We propose that virus-induced cubic membranes could result from viral interference of cellular cholesterol homeostasis, generating a protective membrane environment to facilitate virus assembly and proliferation. Preventing cubic membrane formation might thus disrupt the 'virus factory' and offer new avenues to combat viral infections.
Related Concept Videos
Introduction to Virus
Retrovirus Life Cycles
Subviral Agents
Inhibitors of Virion Maturation and Assembly
Retroviruses
Viruses with RNA Genomes

