Nucleic Acid-binding Properties of Adenovirus Structural Polypeptides

The ability of adenovirus structural polypeptides to bind nucleic acids was assessed by separating the polypeptides on SDS-polyacrylamide gels, transferring them electrophoretically to nitrocellulose and probing with ³²P-labelled nucleic acids. Polypeptides IVa₂, V, VI and VII, as well as trace amounts of pVII and a polypeptide of apparent mol. wt. 40 x 10³ were able to bind label under these conditions. Labelling was also detected with a smaller polypeptide, possibly related to the cleavage products of pVII and/or pVI. The binding of DNA to polypeptide VI appeared to be more sensitive to detergents than the others. No sequence specificity could be detected in the DNA binding.