Genes encoding the core proteins of adenovirus type 2.

The nucleotide sequence of the HindIII-D fragment of adenovirus type 2 has been determined. The sequence, which is located between coordinates 41.8 and 51.0, covers most of the L2 cotermination family. It includes three major open translational reading frames encoding the carboxyl-terminal part of the penton base as well as the major core polypeptides V and VII. An additional minor open translational reading frame encoding a highly basic polypeptide was detected in the sequence. The L2 region has a very compact organization with very short distances between the different genes, although no overlapping coding sequences were found. The predicted amino acid sequences of core proteins V and VII reveal that they are highly basic proteins and polypeptide VII resembles the arginine-rich H4 histones in its amino acid composition, but no striking similarities are apparent at the amino acid sequence level. The candidate polypeptide encoded by the newly discovered translational reading frame contains 29% basic residues and includes a hypothetical recognition sequence for the adenovirus-encoded endopeptidase. In conjunction with previously published sequences and those reported in accompanying papers (Akusjärvi, G., Aleström, P., Pettersson, M., Lager, M., Jörnvall, H., and Pettersson, U. (1984) J. Biol. Chem. 259, 13976-13979; Roberts, R. J., O'Neill, K. E., and Yen, C. E. (1984) J. Biol. Chem. 259, 13965-13975) a complete sequence can now be reconstructed for the 35,937-base pairs adenovirus type 2 genome.