Abstract
Papilloma viruses contain a DNA genome of about 5 × 106. They belong in the papovavirus group and induce epithelial proliferation in a variety of animal species and in man. To date, eight types of papillomaviruses have been identified in different human papillomas, some of which show an increased tendency for malignant conversion. Due to the inability to propagate papillomaviruses in tissue culture, almost nothing is known about their genetic organization and gene expression. The use of recombinant DNA techniques now renders it possible to study in detail the molecular Biology of papillomaviruses. Here we report the molecular cloning of the DNA of human papillomavirus type 1a (HPVla) in
Escherichia coli using pBR 322 as vector and the nucleotide sequence of part of the HPVla genome. The region of 1819 base pairs contains one of two pairs of short inverted repetitive sequences detected earlier by electron microscopic studies. Within the DNA sequence, three potential coding regions of only one orientation have been observed which allows prediction of the direction of transcription in this part of the HPV1a genome.