Research Advances on the Role of Lipids in the Life Cycle of Human Coronaviruses

Abstract

Coronaviruses (CoVs) are emerging pathogens with a significant potential to cause life-threatening harm to human health. Since the beginning of the 21st century, three highly pathogenic and transmissible human CoVs have emerged, triggering epidemics and posing major threats to global public health. CoVs are enveloped viruses encased in a lipid bilayer. As fundamental components of cells, lipids can play an integral role in many physiological processes, which have been reported to play important roles in the life cycle of CoVs, including viral entry, uncoating, replication, assembly, and release. Therefore, research on the role of lipids in the CoV life cycle can provide a basis for a better understanding of the infection mechanism of CoVs and provide lipid targets for the development of new antiviral strategies. In this review, research advances on the role of lipids in different stages of viral infection and the possible targets of lipids that interfere with the viral life cycle are discussed.

Keywords: antivirals; coronaviruses; lipids; viral life cycle.

Figure 1

A diagram illustrating the life cycle of coronaviruses and lipids related to human CoV entry, fusion and uncoating, synthesis, and assembly and budding.

Figure 2

Potential antivirals targeted to lipids that can be used as broad-spectrum antiviral drugs to inhibit human CoV entry, fusion and uncoating, synthesis, and assembly and budding.