[HAPS-L] Viruses and transcription sites

[Ken Saladin <ksaladin@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Here's a different DNA-related question. Maybe someone on
the list with some microbiology background knows the answer to
this.

Presumably a virus wouldn't be replicated if it inserted its genome into
a noncoding region of the host DNA. Does viral DNA, therefore, have a way
of recognizing transcriptional starter sites such as TATA boxes in the
host genome and selectively inserting there, where it "knows"
transcription will occur? Are viral insertion sites nonrandom? Or do
viral genomes carry their own TATA boxes (or something equivalent) that
makes the host RNA polymerase recognize them as transcribable
DNA?

Ken