Wolfson J, Dressler D
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1972 Oct;69(10):3054-7. doi: 10.1073/pnas.69.10.3054.
Denaturation and renaturation of the adenovirus-2 chromosome (a duplex rod) generates single-stranded circles of unit length. These circles can be opened into linear DNA molecules by digestion with exonuclease III, indicating that hydrogen bonding between the two ends of an adenovirus strand is responsible for maintaining the rod in a circular state.The formation of adenovirus single-stranded circles, and their sensitivity to exonuclease III, indicate that the mature adenovirus-2 DNA molecule contains an inverted terminal repetition. That is, the base sequence at one end of the molecule is inverted and appears again at the other end of the molecule. This is the first example of such a structure, and its function is unknown.
腺病毒2型染色体（双链杆状）的变性和复性产生单位长度的单链环。这些环可通过用核酸外切酶III消化而打开成为线性DNA分子，这表明腺病毒链两端之间的氢键负责将杆状结构维持在环状状态。腺病毒单链环的形成及其对核酸外切酶III的敏感性表明，成熟的腺病毒2型DNA分子含有反向末端重复序列。也就是说，分子一端的碱基序列是反向的，并在分子的另一端再次出现。这是这种结构的第一个例子，其功能尚不清楚。
