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A soluble extract from the nuclei of HeLa cells infected with adenovirus 5 (Ad5) carries out the semiconservative replication of exogenously added Ad5 DNA in vitro. Maximal DNA synthesis is observed when DNA-protein complex, isolated from Ad5 virions, is added as template. DNA-protein complex from virions of the closely related virus, adenovirus 2, is also active. In contrast, very little in vitro DNA synthesis is observed when deproteinized Ad5 DNA or DNA from a heterologous source (bacteriophage T7) is added as template. The product of the in vitro reaction consists of long Ad5 DNA strands that are hydrogen-bonded, but not covalently linked, to the input DNA template. During the course of the in vitro reaction, branched molecules with structural features identical to in vivo replication intermediates are formed. These findings support the conclusion that replication in the in vitro system closely resembles adenovirus DNA replication in vivo. The system provides an assay that should be useful for the purification and subsequent characterization of viral and cellular proteins involved in DNA replication.
Challberg et al. (Thu,) studied this question.