DNA sequence analysis of the region encoding the terminal protein and the hypothetical N-gene product of adenovirus type 2.

We have determined the complete nucleotide sequence of a 5783-base pair segment of adenovirus type 2 DNA, located between map coordinates 15.8 and 31.7. This region of the adenovirus-2 genome encodes the three segments of the tripartite leader, the i-leader and the two species of virus-associated RNA. The established sequence reveals two translational reading frames encoded by the viral 1-strand which have remarkably large coding capacities. One of these is located between map coordinates 28.9 and 23.5 and encodes a hypothetical polypeptide with an estimated Mr = 74,000. This polypeptide is in an accompanying paper (Smart, J. E., and Stillman, B. W. (1982) J. Biol. Chem. 257, 13499-13506) identified as the precursor for the terminal protein which is covalently attached to the ends of adenovirus DNA. The second large open translational reading frame starts with an ATG triplet at coordinate 22.9 and encodes a hypothetical polypeptide with a predicted Mr = 120,400. This polypeptide is most likely the product of the N-gene, previously mapped between coordinates 18.0 and 22.5 (Galos, R. S., Williams, J., Binger, M. H., and Flint, S. J. (1979) Cell 17, 945-956). The sequence of the r-strand discloses several open translational reading frames, one of which is located within the i-leader.