Viral Enhancers Orchestrate Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus Transcription

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), the etiological agent of Kaposi's sarcoma and other lymphoproliferative disorders, presents a delicate balance between host cell manipulation, and orchestrating its transcriptional repertoire. Like all herpes viruses, the virus can reside in latency, expressing only a handful of proteins or launch a lytic program that expresses over 80 proteins responsible for the generation and release of new virions. Enhancers, as their name suggests, can enhance the transcription rate from a promoter depending on the cellular environment and tissue. While the promoters in KSHV have been extensively studied, the enhancers were only recently identified. Here we will describe our current view on KSHV enhancers.