Replication of an adenovirus type 34 mutant DNA containing tandem reiterations of the inverted terminal repeat

A mutant of human adenovirus type 34 (Ad34) has been isolated which contains DNA molecules with tandem reiterations of from two to eight copies of a 131-bp sequence within the right-sided inverted terminal repetition. Terminal heterogeneity was not eliminated by repeated plaque purifications indicating that the population of DNA molecules with various numbers of reiterations could rapidly evolve from the DNA of a single virus particle. These enlarged DNA molecules were capable of replication both in vivo and in vitro. The nucleotide sequence of the mutant Ad34 inverted terminal repetitions contained most of the essential features of the Ad origin of DNA replication. These features include the ATAATATACC sequence which is present between the highly conserved bases 9-18 in all human adenoviruses, as well as the consensus sequences for the binding of nuclear factor I and nuclear factor III. However, the reiterated sequences lacked a dG appropriately placed on the template strand to serve as a potential site for internal initiation. It appears that the rapid amplification of two to eight copies of the reiterated terminal sequences does not arise from internal initiation during replication but probably from homologous recombination.