Genomic location and nucleotide sequence of a serotype 3 porcine adenovirus hexon gene

The putative hexon gene of a porcine adenovirus serotype 3 (PAV3) has been identified, cloned and the nucleotide sequence determined. The genomic loca tion of the PAV3 hexon gene was determined and an open reading frame (ORF) encoding a polypeptide of 939 amino acids identified. Comparison of the nuc leotide sequence of the putative PAV3 hexon gene with the sequence of the H AV2 hexon gene returned an overall identity of approximately 63%. A stop co don 144 nucleotides upstream and a start codon 18 nucleotides downstream of the ORF were identified and comparison with the HAV genome demonstrated th at their positions corresponded to the stop site of the pVI gene and start site of the 23K gene, respectively. To confirm the correct start codon of t he putative PAV3 hexon gene, the acceptor splice site for the putative PAV3 hexon gene was determined from cDNA and found to be between the two guanin es immediately upstream of the first ATG in the ORE Comparison with the HAV 2 hexon protein showed overall identity of approximately 65%, with higher i dentity in the carboxy-terminus of approaching 76% over 380 amino acids. Mu ltiple alignment of the PAV3 hexon amino acid sequence with other known HAV and animal adenovirus hexon sequences indicated that conservation is gener ally maintained but that identity is much lower within the loop structures of the protein.