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.

中文翻译：

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病毒基因组在细胞染色体上的搭便车。

持续的病毒感染需要宿主细胞库来维持病毒基因组的功能性拷贝。为此，几种DNA病毒在活跃分裂的细胞中将它们的基因组维持为染色体外DNA微型染色体。这些病毒通常会编码一种病毒蛋白，该蛋白与病毒DNA基因组特异性结合，并将它们束缚在有丝分裂染色体上，从而使病毒基因组能够搭便车或搭载在子细胞中。使用这种束缚机制的病毒包括乳头瘤病毒和伽玛疱疹病毒爱泼斯坦-巴尔病毒以及卡波济氏肉瘤相关疱疹病毒。这篇综述描述了持续染色体外病毒基因组复制的优势和后果。