*2.14. Latency Establishment, Treatment and Reactivation*

In total, 27 Balb/c mice were infected with Smith strain MCMV (1×10<sup>5</sup> pfu/mouse) intraperitoneally (IP), but 3 Balb/c mice were not infected with MCMV. In total, 30 mice were housed to establish their latency for 4–5 months [3,22,24]. We sacrificed 3 mice infected with MCMV to harvest their organs (livers, lungs, spleens, kidneys and salivary glands), in order to test whether MCMV latency was established. The remaining 24 infected Balb/c mice were divided into five experimental groups (3–5 mice/group). They were untreated or treated with TALEN plasmids by tail vein injection 8 times (once/ 5–6 days). The treatment formulation formerly confirmed to be safe for mice was as follows: for total 200 μL injection, 6 μg TALEN plasmids (0.5 μg/μL), 30 μg NKS11 (10 μg/μL), 3.125 mM Sodium Acetate (25 mM, pH5.5) and PBS in each mouse. After treatment, all 24 mice were injected with an immunosuppressive agent cyclophosphamide (Sigma-Alderich, USA) at 150 mg/kg body weight twice (1 dose/5–6 days) to reactivate latency by tail vein injection [25–27]. Five days later, all mice were sacrificed and their organs harvested. We sonicated the organs to harvest the homogenate and total DNA.
