**2.2. Lipid bodies in the pathogen**

Prokaryotes do not generally produce lipid bodies containing TAG. Accumulation of TAG in intracellular lipid-bodies is mostly restricted to bacteria belonging to the actinomycetes group [40].

Most mycobacterial species accumulate considerable amounts of TAG during infection [24,41-44]. The intracellular pathogen *M. tuberculosis* can survive up to decades in a pheno‐ typically non-replicating dormant state, primarily in hypoxic granulomas in the lung [1]. The otherwise drug-susceptible dormant bacteria develop drug resistance within the granulomas of the host. These nonreplicative drug-resistant bacteria within the host´s tissues are called persisters [2].

It has been observed that persisters store large amounts of intracellular triacylglycerol lipid bodies (LBs) [15,17,28,45,46]. *M. tuberculosis* uses TAG from the lipid bodies as energy and carbon source under conditions such as starvation [47], oxygen depletion [48], and pathogen reactivation [49]. The observation that sputum from tuberculosis patients contains lipid bodyladen bacilli, proves the importance of lipids for the survival of the bacterium in the host [17].
