# LIPID DROPLETS: NEW ACTORS OF THE PLANT VIRUS INFECTION

Marguerite Batsale, Nathalie Marissal-Arvy, Lena Jambou, Luc Sofer, Vincent Simon, Charlotte Quinteau, Nathan Doner, Robert T. Mullen, Denis Coulon, Claire Bréhélin, et al.

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## To cite this version:

Marguerite Batsale, Nathalie Marissal-Arvy, Lena Jambou, Luc Sofer, Vincent Simon, et al., LIPID DROPLETS: NEW ACTORS OF THE PLANT VIRUS INFECTION. International Advances in Plant Virology 2025, Apr 2025, Murcia, Spain. hal-05114255

HAL Id: hal-05114255

https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05114255v1

Submitted on 16 Jun 2025

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Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
LIPID DROPLETS: NEW ACTORS OF THE PLANT VIRUS
INFECTION

M. BATSALE¹, N. ARVY¹, L. JAMBOU², L. SOFER¹, V. SIMON¹, C. QUINTEAU¹, N. DONER³, R. MULLEN³, D. COULON², C. BREHELIN², S. GERMAN-RETANA¹

¹Biologie du Fruit et Pathologie, UMR 1332, Equipe de Virologie, INRAE, University of Bordeaux, Villenave d'Ornon, France

²Laboratoire de Biogenèse Membranaire, UMR5200, CNRS, University of Bordeaux,
Villenave d'Ornon, France

³Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph,
Canada

Over the past decade, there has been an increase in evidence that human
positive single stranded RNA (+ssRNA) viruses extensively manipulate the host's lipid
metabolism and use lipid droplets (LDs) to enhance energy production and promote
viral replication and assembly (Monson et al., 2021). LDs are universal dynamic
organelles with a core of neutral lipids surrounded by a phospholipid monolayer
associated with enzymes and structural proteins. More than simple storage units,
these organelles are key regulators of cellular homeostasis, playing significant roles
in lipid metabolism, energy storage, and signal transduction (Bouchnak et al., 2023).
Very recent studies have highlighted the potential role of LDs in plant responses to
infections caused by both plant and fungal viruses (Dai et al., 2024; Wang et al., 2024).
However, the mechanisms involving LDs in plant-virus interactions remain unexplored.

In this study, we present the first comprehensive analysis of LD accumulation
and their recruitment to viral replication compartments (VRCs) during infection by
turnip mosaic virus (TuMV, a member of the *Potyvirus* genus) in *Arabidopsis thaliana*
and *Nicotiana benthamiana*, using confocal microscopy. We also evidenced a
significant accumulation of neutral lipids in infected leaves thus confirming that TuMV-
infection induces LD biogenesis. In addition, Transmission Electron Microscopy data
revealed that the newly formed LDs are located near TuMV-induced VRCs. In
agreement with these results, our mRNA translatome analysis of TuMV-infected *A. thaliana*
leaves revealed an increased translation of LD structural proteins, LIPID
DROPLET ASSOCIATED PROTEINS (LDAPs), a family of proteins crucial for LD
biosynthesis and stability, and recruitment of lipases. Moreover, TuMV propagation
was significantly impaired in *Arabidopsis Idap* knock-out mutants and enhanced in
LDAP overexpressing plants. Our preliminary data suggest that LDAP proteins may
play roles in both viral movement and replication and therefore represent key factors
in LD recruitment during viral infection. Collectively, our results point to a pro-viral
function of LDs in TuMV-infected plants.

**Bouchnak, I., Coulon, D., Salis, V., D'Andréa, S., & Bréhélin, C. (2023).** Lipid droplets are versatile organelles involved in plant development and plant response to environmental changes. *Frontiers in Plant Science, 14*, 1193905.

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2023.1193905

Dai, R., Yang, S., Pang, T., Tian, M., Wang, H., Zhang, D., Wu, Y., Kondo, H., Andika, I. B., Kang, Z., & Sun, L. (2024). Identification of a negative-strand RNA
virus with natural plant and fungal hosts. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(12), e2319582121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2319582121

Monson, E. A., Trenerry, A. M., Laws, J. L., Mackenzie, J. M., & Helbig, K. J. (2021). Lipid droplets and lipid mediators in viral infection and immunity. FEMS Microbiology Reviews, 45(4), fuaa066. https://doi.org/10.1093/femsre/fuaa066

Wang, S., Wang, X., Li, S., Sun, X., Xue, M., Di, D., Zhang, A., Zhang, Y., Xia, Y., Zhou, T., & Fan, Z. (2024). Maize lipid droplet-associated protein 2 is recruited by a virus to enhance viral multiplication and infection through regulating cellular fatty acid metabolism. The Plant Journal, 119(5), 2484-2499. https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.16934