The Lipid Blueprints Of Replicating Viral Genomes

Plus-strand RNA viruses are the largest group of RNA viruses containing many human, animal and plant pathogens including viruses that are the causative agents of polio, dengue, yellow fever, hepatitis C, common cold and hoof and mouth disease. These viruses dramatically remodel their host cells' pre-existing organelles to generate new organelles on which they subsequently assemble their enzymes and replicate. Remarkably the replication organelles from many different viruses end up converging on common lipid blueprints, enriched in specific lipids such as phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate (PI4P), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and cholesterol that facilitate the assembly of macromolecular replication complexes. In addition these lipids impart on the replication organelles a high degree of membrane curvature, which also likely aids the formation and function of the replication complexes. The goal of this article is to examine the mechanisms by which different viruses generate these common lipid blueprints, how they can facilitate replication and how targeting these lipids may be a novel and panviral therapeutic strategy.