Nucleotide sequence at the junction between the coding region of the adenovirus 2 hexon messenger RNA and its leader sequence.

We have determined a 139-base-pair sequence of adenovirus 2 DNA that is located immediately leftwards of the cleavage site for endonuclease Sma I at position 51.1. The established sequence includes the hexon AUG initiator codon, located 75--77 nucleotides leftwards of this cleavage site, and codons for the first 26 amino acids of the hexon polypeptide. By the use of purified hexon mRNA as a template and separated strands of small restriction enzyme fragments as specific primers, the complete 5' noncoding region of the hexon mRNA was synthesized and part of its sequence was determined. The tripartite leader sequence of the hexon mRNA starts 39 nucleotides upstream from the initiator AUG triplet and the total length of the 5' noncoding part of the hexon mRNA was estimated to be 235 nucleotides. The sequence at the junction of the leader sequence permits the formation of secondary structures that may be of importance for the splicing reaction.