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Updated: Jan 22, 2026

Purification of Viral DNA for the Identification of Associated Viral and Cellular Proteins
Published on: August 31, 2017
Hitchhiking of Viral Genomes on Cellular Chromosomes
Tami L Coursey1, Alison A McBride1
1Laboratory of Viral Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA;
Abstract:
Persistent viral infections require a host cell reservoir that maintains functional copies of the viral genome. To this end, several DNA viruses maintain their genomes as extrachromosomal DNA minichromosomes in actively dividing cells. These viruses typically encode a viral protein that binds specifically to viral DNA genomes and tethers them to host mitotic chromosomes, thus enabling the viral genomes to hitchhike or piggyback into daughter cells. Viruses that use this tethering mechanism include papillomaviruses and the gammaherpesviruses Epstein-Barr virus and Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus. This review describes the advantages and consequences of persistent extrachromosomal viral genome replication.
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