Peroxisomes are membrane-bound organelles that are best known for their roles in lipid metabolism. Mounting evidence indicates that they are also important nodes for antiviral signaling. While research over the past few decades has revealed effective viral strategies to block antiviral signalling pathways from the plasma membrane, mitochondria and/or the nucleus, until recently, very little was known about how viruses interfere with peroxisome-based antiviral signaling. In this essay, we review how viruses use a variety of strategies to interfere with peroxisome biogenesis, a phenomenon that has implications for evasion of the host immune system as well as pathogenesis.
Keywords: HIV; West Nile virus; dengue virus; hepatitis C virus; human immunodeficiency virus; innate immunity; pathogenesis; peroxisome biogenesis.