Adenovirus assembly: self-assembly of partially digested hexons

Abstract

Papainic hydrolysis of adenovirus type 2 hexon capsomers was apparently limited and induced self-aggregation of hexons in a preferred oligomeric species, hexon trimers, sedimenting at about 19X, and retaining their immunological properties. These hexon trimers were composed of two classes of trimer molecules with different electric charges. The relevance of this trimer aggregation phenomenon to the adenovirus assembly process is discussed.