Allison L. Didychuk

This study presents cryo-EM structures of herpesvirus packaging accessory factors, revealing conserved pentameric symmetry and a critical positively charged central channel for genome packaging.

This study identifies a novel protein fold in KSHV ORF24 that enables direct binding to RNAPII CTD, facilitating viral late gene transcription through structural mimicry of a host transcription factor.

This study identifies a novel cytoplasmic function of the KSHV packaging factor ORF68, dependent on its interaction with the viral tyrosine kinase ORF21.

The paper models and validates the DNA binding structure of KSHV ORF24, revealing a non-canonical binding mode and cooperative pre-assembly with RNA polymerase II for promoter recognition.

The paper identifies ORF29 as a viral DNA packaging motor subunit that potentiates late gene expression in KSHV, linking transcription and packaging processes.

The paper uses a CRISPR/Cas9 screen to identify KSHV transcriptional modifiers, finding ORF46's DNA binding domain is essential for viral DNA replication.

This paper identifies how herpesviral TBP mimics interact with RNA polymerase II to drive late gene transcription, distinguishing viral from cellular TBP function.

This paper identifies conserved CxnC motifs in KSHV ORF66 essential for its interaction with ORF34 and late gene expression.