Physicochemical properties of the DNAs of the fastidious adenovirus species 40 and 41.

The DNAs of the two fastidious adenovirus species 40 and 41 (Ad40 and Ad41) have been studied by restriction endonuclease cleavage, CsCl density gradient centrifugation, and liquid-phase hybridization. For Ad40 DNA, cleavage maps were constructed for the restriction endonucleases EcoRI, SalI, ClaI, BstEII, BclII, and PvuI. The EcoRI, SalI, ClaI, and XhoI maps could be established for Ad41 DNA. The buoyant density in CsCl of DNAs of the fastidious species is 1.711 g/cm3 corresponding to a G + C content of 52%. The homology of the DNAs from Ad40 and Ad41 proved to be 62-69%. These results are consistent with previous reports on antigenic and DNA restriction enzyme analysis in which the classification into two species was proposed (J. C. De Jong, R. Wigand, A. H. Kidd, G. Wadell, J. G. Kapsenberg, C. J. Muzerie, A. G. Wermenbol, and R.-G. Fritzlaff, J. Med. Virol. 11, 215-231 (1983), and I. Uhnoo, G. Wadell, L. Svensson, and M. Johansson, Dev. Biol. Stand. 53, 311-318 (1983].