RT Journal Article SR Electronic(1) A1 Clément, Sophie A1 Fauvelle, Catherine A1 Branche, Emilie A1 Kaddai, Vincent A1 Conzelmann, Stéphanie A1 Boldanova, Tujana A1 Bartosch, Birke A1 Minehira, Kaori A1 Negro, FrancescoYR 2013 T1 Role of seipin in lipid droplet morphology and hepatitis C virus life cycle JF Journal of General Virology, VO 94 IS 10 SP 2208 OP 2214 DO https://doi.org/10.1099/vir.0.054593-0 PB Microbiology Society, SN 1465-2099, AB Infectious hepatitis C virus (HCV) particle assembly starts at the surface of lipid droplets, cytoplasmic organelles responsible for neutral fat storage. We analysed the relationship between HCV and seipin, a protein involved in lipid droplet maturation. Although seipin overexpression did not affect the total mean volume occupied by lipid droplets nor the total triglyceride and cholesterol ester levels per cell, it caused an increase in the mean diameter of lipid droplets by 60 %, while decreasing their total number per cell. The latter two effects combined resulted in a 34 % reduction of the total outer surface area of lipid droplets per cell, with a proportional decrease in infectious viral particle production, probably due to a defect in particle assembly. These results suggest that the available outer surface of lipid droplets is a critical factor for HCV release, independent of the neutral lipid content of the cell., UL https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/vir.0.054593-0