BIOCHEMICAL STUDIES ON ADENOVIRUS MULTIPLICATION, VII. HOMOLOGY BETWEEN DNA'S OF TUMORIGENIC AND NONTUMORIGENIC HUMAN ADENOVIRUSES

Abstract

The degree of genetic relatedness among tumorigenic human adenovirus types 12 and 18 and nontumorigenic adenovirus types 2 and 4 was estimated by measurements of DNA-DNA homology. The DNA-agar technique was employed to determine the interactions among all 16 possible pairs (homologous, heterologous, and reciprocal) of the 4 viral DNA''s. The DNA''s of tumorigenic adenovirus types 12 and 18 hybridized with each other to the extent of 79%, indicating a high degree of genetic homology; those of adenovirus types 2 and 4 hybridized 35% indicating that they are about half as related to each other as are the tumorigenic types. The DNA''s of tumorigenic adenovirus types hybridized with those of the nontumorigenic adenovirus types only to the extent of 18-26%, suggesting that the nucleotide sequences in most of their clstrons are dissimilar.