InterPro: IPR003391 Adenoviral DNA terminal protein

The genome of adenovirus contains a protein covalently bound to the 5' end of each strand of the linear DNA molecule [1]. Since adenovirus DNA replication is initiated at the termini of the DNA molecule it has been proposed that the terminal protein serves as the primer for initiation of replication. However, the priming function now appears to reside in the precursor form of the terminal protein (pTP) found on the 5' ends of nascent DNA strands replicated in vitro [2, 3] and as a component of DNA-protein complexes isolated from virions of the protease-deficient adenovirus serotype 2 (Ad2) mutant tsl. The pTP is encoded by the leftward-transcribed strand of the viral genome and comprises part of a transcription unit that also encodes the single-strand DNA binding protein [4].