Metabolomics and Lipidomics: Yet More Ways Your Health Is Influenced by Fat

Metabolism refers to the chemical reactions that occur in living cells, and the reactants and products of these reactions compose the metabolome. The lipidome is comprised by hydrophobic metabolites and includes several broad classes of structurally diverse molecules. Lipids supplied by the host cell are required for many viral processes, and many if not all viruses have evolved mechanisms to perturb host metabolism to promote viral replication. This chapter provides background and a framework for examining the role of lipid metabolites in viral processes and rational attempts to target host metabolism as an antiviral strategy.