Nucleic Acids Research, 1978, Vol. 5, No. 4 1289-1295
© 1978
Articles |
Initiation of adenovirus DNA replication does not occur via a hairpin mechanism
Laboratory for Physiological Chemistry, State University of Utrecht Utrecht, Netherlands
Received January 3, 1977. Models have been proposed suggesting that initiation of adenovirus DNA replication might occur via a hairpin mechanism. A consequence of the models is a covalent linkage of progeny and parental DNA in newly completed molecules. Analysis of mature molecules from KB cells infected with adenovirus type 5 indicates that, if a hairpin mechanism is involved, the length of the hairpin must be shorter than 50 basepairs long. Recent nucleotide sequence analysis of the termini of adenovirus type 5 DNA (P.H.Steenbergh et al.(1977) Nucl. Acids Res.4, 43714389) has shown that a hairpin of this size does not exist and that therefore a hairpin mechanism is unlikely.