Adenovirus E1A gene autorepression: revertants of an E1A promoter mutation encode altered E1A proteins.

Revertants have been isolated from Ad3hr15, a mutant of human adenovirus type 3 that carries a defective E1A promoter. Transcription of these revertant E1A genes is restored--from nil for Ad3hr15 mutant to levels exceeding that of the wild-type virus. The mutant Ad3hr15 virus and the revertants all have an aberrant E1A promoter that contains two short tandem duplications of viral DNA sequence. The E1A gene-coding region of the mutant is the same as that for wild-type adenovirus type 3, whereas the revertants are characterized by short in-frame deletions within the 5' exon region of their E1A genes. Location of these reverting, second-site deletions is discussed in relation to E1A gene autoregulation and the evolved diversity of E1A-related oncogenic potential among different human adenoviruses.