Preparative separation of intact incomplete and empty adenovirus type 2 particles.

Complete adenovirus type 2 virions containing the whole genome were resistant to while empty capsids lacking DNA were breakable at a separation procedure involving customary CsCl gradient centrifugation. A purification method was developed using CsCl density gradient centrifugation in 5% glycerol which retained the integrity of incomplete particles as well as empty capsids. This procedure enabled to study the biological and physicochemical properties of different adenovirus type 2 particles.