Review 2: "A global lipid map reveals host dependency factors conserved across SARS-CoV-2 variants"

Aman Rajpal

doi:doi:10.1162/2e3983f5.2e0af6d5

Review 2: "A global lipid map reveals host dependency factors conserved across SARS-CoV-2 variants"

This preprint examines lipid droplet plasticity as a feature of infection that can be stopped by glycolipid biosynthesis inhibitors and finds that they are a host dependency factor supporting COVID-19. Reviewers found this study reliable and informative for virus evolution.

by Aman Rajpal

Published onMar 30, 2022

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This Pub is a Review of

A global lipid map reveals host dependency factors conserved across SARS-CoV-2 variants

by Scotland E. Farley, Jennifer E. Kyle, Hans C. Leier, Lisa M. Bramer, Jules Weinstein, Timothy A. Bates, Joon-Yong Lee, Thomas O. Metz, Carsten Schultz, and Fikadu G. Tafesse

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dx.doi.org

Description

AbstractA comprehensive understanding of host dependency factors for SARS-CoV-2 remains elusive. We mapped alterations in host lipids following SARS-CoV-2 infection using nontargeted lipidomics. We found that SARS-CoV-2 rewires host lipid metabolism, altering 409 lipid species up to 64-fold relative to controls. We correlated these changes with viral protein activity by transfecting human cells with each viral protein and performing lipidomics. We found that lipid droplet plasticity is a key feature of infection and that viral propagation can be blocked by small-molecule glycerolipid biosynthesis inhibitors. We found that this inhibition was effective against the main variants of concern (alpha, beta, gamma, and delta), indicating that glycerolipid biosynthesis is a conserved host dependency factor that supports this evolving virus.

RR:C19 Evidence Scale rating by reviewer:

Reliable. The main study claims are generally justified by its methods and data. The results and conclusions are likely to be similar to the hypothetical ideal study. There are some minor caveats or limitations, but they would/do not change the major claims of the study. The study provides sufficient strength of evidence on its own that its main claims should be considered actionable, with some room for future revision.

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Review:

Very interesting work. This is an important aspect of virology that adds a new dimension to the existing literature. This will help our understanding of Sars-CoV-2 as well as other viral infections and their effect. on host cells.