Snapshots: Chromatin control of viral infection

Like their cellular host counterparts, many invading viral pathogens must contend with, modulate, and utilize the host cell’s chromatin machinery to promote efficient lytic infection or control persistent–latent states. While not intended to be comprehensive, this review represents a compilation of conceptual snapshots of the dynamic interplay of viruses with the chromatin environment. Contributions focus on chromatin dynamics during infection, viral circumvention of cellular chromatin repression, chromatin organization of large DNA viruses, tethering and persistence, viral interactions with cellular chromatin modulation machinery, and control of viral latency–reactivation cycles.

► Chromatin control of viral infection, latency, and reactivation. ► Chromatin organization of DNA viruses. ► Chromatin modulation complexes regulating viral gene expression. ► Epigenetic targets for antiviral therapeutics. ► Viral directed modulation of chromatin.