The CCCTC Binding Factor, CTRL2, Modulates Heterochromatin Deposition and the Establishment of Herpes Simplex Virus 1 Latency <i>In Vivo</i>

Abstract

It is becoming increasingly clear that chromatin insulators play a key role in the transcriptional control of DNA viruses. The gammaherpesviruses Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) utilize chromatin insulators to order protein recruitment and dictate the formation of three-dimensional DNA loops that spatially control transcription and latency. The contribution of chromatin insulators in alphaherpesvirus transcriptional control is less well understood. The work presented here begins to bridge that gap in knowledge by showing how one insulator site in HSV-1 modulates lytic gene transcription and heterochromatin deposition as the HSV-1 genome establishes latency.