Bcl-xL is required to protect endothelial cells latently infected with KSHV from virus induced intrinsic apoptosis

An sgRNA sub-pool derived from hits and controls in a whole genome screen (PMID: 33122441) was used to investigate genes which are essential during latent KSHV infection of human endothelial cells. The initial pool of library transduced cells was used to confirm efficient transduction of the library and effective selection against sgRNAs targeting generally essential genes over the course of the 8 day experiment. Two replicate experiments were done and comparisons between mock infected and KSHV infected cells was used to identify KSHV infection-specific essential genes. Two replicate experiments were done and comparisons between mock infected and KSHV infected cells was used to identify KSHV infection-specific essential genes.