DNA viruses and viral proteins that interact with PML nuclear bodies

Connections between PML nuclear bodies (PML NBs) and DNA virus replication have been investigated from the earliest days of the molecular characterization of PML and associated proteins. It appears to be a general feature of nuclear-replicating DNA viruses that their parental genomes preferentially become associated with PML NBs, and that their initial sites of transcription and development of DNA replication centres are frequently juxtaposed to these domains or their remnants. In addition, regulatory proteins encoded by several DNA viruses associate with and sometimes cause catastrophic changes to PML NBs by a variety of mechanisms. These events can be correlated with the efficiency of viral infection and the functions of viral regulatory proteins, but the underlying molecular connections between PML NB function and viral infection remain poorly understood. This article reviews the latest developments in the interactions between PML NBs and herpesviruses, adenoviruses and papovaviruses.