Adenovirus early region 4 encodes functions required for efficient DNA replication, late gene expression, and host cell shutoff.

To delineate the function of adenovirus early region 4 (E4) gene products, we constructed a set of mutant viruses which carry defined lesions within this coding region. Deletion and insertion mutations within six of seven known E4 coding regions had no measurable effect on virus growth in cultured cells. A variant carrying a deletion within the last coding region (encoding a 34,000-molecular-weight polypeptide) was modestly defective, and a mutant lacking the majority of the E4 region was severely defective for growth. The phenotypes of the two defective mutants are similar and complex. Both display perturbations in DNA replication, translation of the E2A mRNA, accumulation of late viral mRNAs, and host cell shutoff.