Further research is therefore needed to determine (i) what cellular or viral kinases are present in viral transcriptional complexes, and at what times, (ii) if the commonly used cdk9 inhibitors also inhibit UL13 and US3, (iii) if the viral kinases can phosphorylate cellular targets within viral transcriptional complexes, (iv) if the disruption of kinase activity affects nascent RNA expression at early time points post-infection, and (v) how other, more specific kinase inhibitors affect HSV-1 infection and nascent viral RNA production. Here, CDK9 is linked to infection.