Assembly of adenovirus major capsid protein is mediated by a nonvirion protein.

The assembly of hexon, the major capsid protein of adenovirus, was investigated with the use of conformation-specific monoclonal antibodies. The hexon capsomere is a trimer of three identical monomers folded into a highly conserved and stable structure. The unique nature of this structure is indicated by the lack of common antigenic determinants between the capsomere and either monomeric or denatured hexon. The assembly of the trimer requires the action of a nonvirion protein, the 100K protein. The virus-encoded 100K protein forms a tight complex with hexon polypeptides. This 100K-hexon complex can form on the polyribosomes while hexon is a nascent chain. Exclusion chromatography revealed that the complex has a molecular weight of 800,000. The complex contains only pretrimer hexon; no mature hexon capsomeres can be found bound to 100K. Kinetic analysis of hexon trimerization and hexon-100K binding indicated that trimerization and the release of hexon from the complex occur concomitantly.