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Updated: Apr 27, 2026
Lipid Droplet Isolation for Quantitative Mass Spectrometry Analysis
Published on: April 17, 2017
Visualization and analysis of hepatitis C virus structural proteins at lipid droplets by super-resolution microscopy
Dennis Eggert1, Kathrin Rösch2, Rudolph Reimer2
1Heinrich-Pette-Institute, Leibniz Institute for Experimental Virology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany; Institute of Physical Chemistry, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
Abstract:
Cytosolic lipid droplets are central organelles in the Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) life cycle. The viral capsid protein core localizes to lipid droplets and initiates the production of viral particles at lipid droplet-associated ER membranes. Core is thought to encapsidate newly synthesized viral RNA and, through interaction with the two envelope proteins E1 and E2, bud into the ER lumen. Here, we visualized the spatial distribution of HCV structural proteins core and E2 in vicinity of small lipid droplets by three-color 3D super-resolution microscopy. We observed and analyzed small areas of colocalization between the two structural proteins in HCV-infected cells with a diameter of approximately 100 nm that might represent putative viral assembly sites.
