Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 27, 2025

Isolation of Viral Replication Compartment-enriched Sub-nuclear Fractions from Adenovirus-infected Normal Human Cells
Published on: November 12, 2015
Replication Compartments of Eukaryotic and Bacterial DNA Viruses: Common Themes Between Different Domains of Host
David M Knipe1, Amy Prichard2, Surendra Sharma1
1Department of Microbiology, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA;
Abstract:
Subcellular organization is essential for life. Cells organize their functions into organelles to concentrate their machinery and supplies for optimal efficiency. Likewise, viruses organize their replication machinery into compartments or factories within their host cells for optimal replicative efficiency. In this review, we discuss how DNA viruses that infect both eukaryotic cells and bacteria assemble replication compartments for synthesis of progeny viral DNA and transcription of the viral genome. Eukaryotic DNA viruses assemble replication compartments in the nucleus of the host cell while DNA bacteriophages assemble compartments called phage nuclei in the bacterial cytoplasm. Thus, DNA viruses infecting host cells from different domains of life share common replication strategies.
Related Concept Videos
Size and Structure of Viral Genomes
The Replisome
The synthesis of the leading and lagging strands is a highly coordinated process. To explain this, the “Trombone model” was proposed by Bruce Alberts in 1980. The DNA loop formation starts when a primer is synthesized on the parent lagging strand. The loop grows with...
DNA Bacteriophages
Viral Structure
Replication in Eukaryotes
Viral Replication: Lytic Cycle

