Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus Latency-Associated Nuclear Antigen: Replicating and Shielding Viral DNA
Magdalena Weidner-Glunde1, Giuseppe Mariggiò1, Thomas F Schulz2
1Institute of Virology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany, and German Centre for Infection Research, Hannover-Braunschweig Site, Germany.
Abstract:
Kaposi's sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV) establishes lifelong latency. The viral latency-associated nuclear antigen (LANA) promotes viral persistence by tethering the viral genome to cellular chromosomes and by participating in latent DNA replication. Recently, the structure of the LANA C-terminal DNA binding domain was solved and new cytoplasmic variants of LANA were discovered. We discuss how these findings contribute to our current view of LANA structure and assembly and of its role during viral persistence.
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