Transcription and Processing of Adenovirus RNA in Productive Infection

Abstract

Productive infection of human heteroploid cells with human adenoviruses leads within the first hour after infection to uncoating and passage of parental DNA into the cell nucleus [17]. Transcription of the viral DNA starts immediately and continues throughout the infectious cycle which lasts for around 25 hours [9, 18, 34]. Two functionally different periods of transcription can be recognized: 1. an early phase preceeding viral DNA synthesis, involving transcription of mRNA from 10–20% of the DNA sequences [5, 6] (this mRNA probably codes for the early antigens, “T and P” antigens [7, 30]) and 2. a late phase beginning at the onset of viral DNA synthesis, 5–6 h after infection, where specific adenovirus mRNA is transcribed in increased amounts and from a large fraction of the virus genome (80–90%) [9, 18]. Late in infection the protein synthesizing machinery of the host cell is almost entirely engaged in synthesis of virus-coded proteins necessary for the formation of mature virus [31].