Some drawbacks often faced in studies of KSHV envelope gp function are the lack of a robust in vitro model of KSHV lytic replication, which hinders the ability to fully decipher the contributions of envelope gps to binding, entry, and replication during de novo lytic infection, and the lack of an in vivo model of KSHV infection that allows for the ability to study the contributions of individual gps to infection, immunity, and pathogenesis. This evidence concerns the gene NBEAL2 and infection.