Hepatitis C Virus Selectively Alters the Intracellular Localization of Desmosterol.

ABSTRACT: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) increases intracellular desmosterol without affecting the steady-state abundance of other sterols, and the antiviral activity of inhibitors of desmosterol synthesis is suppressed by the addition of exogenous desmosterol. These observations suggest a model in which desmosterol has a specific function, direct or indirect, in HCV replication and that HCV alters desmosterol homeostasis to promote viral replication. Here, we use stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy in combination with isotopically labeled sterols to show that HCV causes desmosterol to accumulate in lipid droplets that are closely associated with the viral NS5A protein and that are visually distinct from the broad distribution of desmosterol in mock-infected cells and the more heterogeneous and di

SUBMITTER: Villareal VA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5025300 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature