Generation of infectious genome of bovine adenovirus type 3 by homologous recombination in bacteria.

The widely used technique of generating adenovirus vectors by homologous recombination in mammalian cells is usually not very efficient. This communication describes a simple method of generating a plasmid containing the full-length genome of an adenovirus by homologous recombination in bacteria. Following transfection of a suitable mammalian cell line with the full-length adenovirus genome, infectious virus progeny could easily be generated. Using this technique the generation of adenovirus recombinants would be efficient and straightforward.