Nucleotide sequence analysis of the leader segments in a cloned copy of adenovirus 2 fiber mRNA

Fiber mRNA of adenovirus 2 has been used as a template for RNA-dependent DNA polymerase. The resulting cDNA/RNA hybrids have been inserted at the Pst I site of the plasmid vector pBR322 after A:T tailing. One recombinant plasmid, pJAW 43, has been characterized in detail and shown to contain sequences from the main body of fiber mRNA, the three leaders common to most late adenoviral mRNAs and a fourth leader found in some species of fiber mRNA. The complete DNA sequence of the leader region has been determined and does not contain the initiation codon AUG, although this codon does occur immediately downstream from the junction between the fourth leader and the main body of the fiber mRNA. The first leader (map coordinate 16.6) is 41 nucleotides long, the second (from 19.6) is 71 nucleotides, the third (from 26.6) is 88 nucleotides and the fourth (from 78.5) is 181 nucleotides. The location of junctions between viral leaders and intervening sequences has been determined by reference, where possible, to sequences of the adenovirus 2 genome. Although the presence of short repeated sequences at the boundaries of intervening sequences and leaders makes it impossible to locate the splice point unambiguously, all of the leader-intervening sequence junctions can be arranged to stress a common feature--the presence of the dinucleotides GT and AG at the 5' and 3' ends, respectively, of the intervening sequences. This prototype sequence, which has also been recognized at or near the splice points in other eucaryotic systems, is possibly part of a larger unit which serves as a recognition site for specific excision-ligation events that ultimately lead to the production of mature mRNAs.