title: Multifaceted role of lipids in Mycobacterium leprae.
abstract: Mycobacterium leprae must adopt a metabolic strategy and undergo various metabolic alterations upon infection to survive inside the human body for years in a dormant state. A change in lipid homeostasis upon infection is highly pronounced in Mycobacterium leprae. Lipids play an essential role in the survival and pathogenesis of mycobacteria. Lipids are present in several forms and serve multiple roles from being a source of nutrition, providing rigidity, evading the host immune response to serving as virulence factors, etc. The synthesis and degradation of lipids is a highly regulated process and is the key to future drug designing and diagnosis for mycobacteria. In the current review, an account of the distinct roles served by lipids, the mechanism of their synthesis and degradation has been elucidated.
authors.affiliation: Research Scholar, Department of Biotechnology, Panjab University, Chandigarh 160014, India.
authors.forename: Gurkamaljit
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kaur
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Panjab University, Chandigarh 160014, India.
authors.forename: Jagdeep
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kaur
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007918:Leprosy / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology*; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D009166:Mycobacterium leprae / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D037521:Virulence Factors
keywords: M. leprae; M. tuberculosis; cell wall; diagnostic candidates; gene decay; lipid droplets; lipid metabolism; lipids; survival; virulence