As pVII was reported to occupy Ad DNA during the immediate early phase of infection [36], [37], [38], [39], our results indicate that during early Ad infection, pVII likely protects its genome from SPOC1 mediated repressive silencing, prior to the onset of transcription by pVII removal from the genome [40], [41] including loss of pVII-bound repressive factor SPOC1. Here, PHF13 is linked to infection.