3) Assembly of Adenovirus Nucleic Acid (DNA):

• Assembly of Adenovirus Nucleic Acid (DNA) Made of Poster Paper:

  • Cut to form a seamless 0.5cm wide strip in the entire poster paper;
  • This cut must be seamless throughout the entire extension of the poster paper until two free ends are obtained;
  • The number of poster paper strips must be sufficient to occupy the capsid volume in the end.
• Assembly of Adenovirus Nucleic Acid (DNA) with Same Color Straight Straws (figure A, B, C, D, E):
  • Cut some of the surplus of the straw to obtain 10 pieces of 6 cm long each;
  • To form dinucleotides, cover with contact paper every 3 cm of the same straw piece, with different colors: green with red and yellow with blue. Therefore, in the end, you will have 5 yellow/blue dinucleotides and 5 green/red dinucleotides;
  • With a needle, or other puncturing device with average thickness, puncture each dinucleotide in the junction of the colors (in the middle of the straw piece);
  • Cut 10 pieces of straw measuring 0.5cm long to serve as spacers between dinucleotides;
  • Insert a long piece of string through the ends of the first dinucleotide, leaving two longs ends of string to be inserted in all other dinucleotides one after another;
  • o Give a double helix shape to the DNA, by giving it a complete swing, and tie both ends of the string in the stem.
• Yellow, blue, green and red straight straws (figures a, b):
  • Cut some of the surplus of the straw to obtain 5 pieces of each straw, where yellow and green straws measure 4 cm long, and blue and red straws measure 3 cm long;
  • To form dinucleotides, insert 1cm of the larger pieces into the smaller pieces in a way the set has 6cm long: Insert the green straw into the red straw and the yellow one into the blue one. Therefore, in the end, you will have 5 yellow/blue dinucleotides and 5 green/red dinucleotides;
  • With a needle, or other puncturing device with average thickness, puncture each dinucleotide in the junction of the colors;
  • Cut 10 pieces of straw measuring 0.5cm long to serve as spacers between dinucleotides;
  • Following a random order in dinucleotide color pairs, insert each one of them through the hole made with the needle in the metal base, and place a spacer between them;
  • Insert a long piece of string through the ends of the first dinucleotide, leaving two longs ends of string to be inserted in all other dinucleotides one after another;
  • o Give a double helix shape to the DNA, by giving it a complete swing, and tie both ends of the string in the stem.

4) Assembly of the Nucleocapsid

• 4.1) Straight straws.
• In 5 bases with no intermediate piece, glue 5 triangle bases in one of the arrays to form the bottom piece of the capsid (figure 16);
• Make a hole in the centre of the wood base to insert the stem of the nucleic acid;
• Place a perforated cork over the wood base hole, lean the set of bottom and intermediate pieces over the cork and insert the stem of the nucleic acid (figure 17);
• Glue the other array in the intermediate part, base to base, to form the top piece (figure 18);
• Place 4cm straw pieces in vertices to form glycoproteins (figure 19).

• 4.2)Articulated Straws.
• In 5 bases with no intermediate piece, glue 5 triangle bases in one of the arrays to form the bottom piece (figure 20);
• Make a hole in the centre of the wood base to insert the stem of the nucleic acid;
• Place a perforated cork over the wood base hole, lean the set of bottom and intermediate pieces over the cork and insert the stem of the nucleic acid;
• Glue the other array in the intermediate part, base to base, to form the top piece;
• Place corks in vertices to form glycoproteins.

Conclusions:

The schematic aspect of adenovirus is icosahedron, with the following characteristics: 20 triangle faces, 12 vertices and 30 edges;

Using straws to form the virus avoids wasting this material in the environment.