Genomic location and nucleotide sequence of a porcine adenovirus penton base gene

The putative penton base gene of a porcine adenovirus serotype 3 (PAV3) has been identified, cloned and sequenced. The genomic location of the PAV3 penton base was deduced by probing a Southern blot with a polymerase chain reaction generated product containing the human adenovirus type 2 (HAV2) penton base gene. Sequencing revealed an open reading frame (ORF) of 1527 nucleotides coding for a polypeptide of 509 amino acids. However, cDNA analysis indicated an acceptor splice site one nucleotide upstream of the second ATG in the ORF. This produced an ORF of 1452 nucleotides coding for a polypeptide of 484 amino acids with a calculated molecular weight of 54.5 kDa. Comparison with the HAV2 penton base amino acid sequence revealed the putative PAV3 penton base homologue to be 87 amino acids shorter with an overall amino acid homology of approximately 65%. Comparison with the penton base proteins of other HAV types revealed a region between amino acid positions 283 and 379 with no similarity.