The Loss of Binary: Pushing the Herpesvirus Latency Paradigm

Purpose of Review Herpesvirus latency has been viewed as a binary state where replication is either on or off. During latency, gene expression is thought to be restricted to non-coding RNAs or very few proteins so that the virus avoids detection by the immune system. However, a number of recent studies across herpesvirus families call into question the existence of a binary switch for latency and suggest that latency is far more dynamic than originally presumed. These studies are the focus of this review.