ABSTRACT
The past two decades have seen enormous strides forward in our understanding of cell function through elegant biophysical and cell biological studies that have contributed immeasurably to our understanding of lipid behavior and membrane bilayer structure and function. Critical aspects of this work have been reviewed in other chapters in this text. In this chapter, we have highlighted several systems in which pathogens-virus or toxins-bacteria perturb membrane structure or lipid content to mediate infectivity and induce toxicity. The chapter is divided into three sections each of which describes a different mechanism of hijacking lipid or bilayer dependent processes. In the ˜rst, we summarize HSV-mediated entry and subsequent exit from cells. In the second, we report on a cholesterol-dependent uptake of a bacterial toxin with newly described lipid phosphatase activity. Lastly, we summarize new evidence for a leukotoxin-mediated disruption of membrane bilayer structure as a mechanism of toxicity.
