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Updated: Jul 26, 2025

Lipid Droplet Isolation for Quantitative Mass Spectrometry Analysis
Published on: April 17, 2017
Interplay between lipid metabolism, lipid droplets and RNA virus replication
Mónica A Farías1, Benjamín Diethelm-Varela1, Alexis M Kalergis1,2
1Millennium Institute on Immunology and Immunotherapy, Departamento de Genética Molecular y Microbiología, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
Abstract:
Lipids play essential roles in the cell as components of cellular membranes, signaling molecules, and energy storage sources. Lipid droplets are cellular organelles composed of neutral lipids, such as triglycerides and cholesterol esters, and are also considered as cellular energy reserves, yet new functions have been recently associated with these structures, such as regulators of oxidative stress and cellular lipotoxicity, as well as modulators of pathogen infection through immune regulation. Lipid metabolism and lipid droplets participate in the infection process of many RNA viruses and control their replication and assembly, among others. Here, we review and discuss the contribution of lipid metabolism and lipid droplets over the replication cycle of RNA viruses, altogether pointing out potentially new pharmacological antiviral targets associated with lipid metabolism.
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