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ADENOVIRUS SEROTYPE26 VECTORS, NUCLEIC ACIDAND VIRUSES PRODUCEDTHEREBY5 CROSS-REFERENCETO RELATED APPLICATIONSThis application claims the benefits of U.S. provisional application serial no. 60/652,041,filed February 11, 2005.BACKGROUNDOFTHE INVENTION10 Adenoviruses are nonenveloped, icosahedral viruses that havebeen identified in severalavian and mammalian hosts; Homeet al., 1959 J. Mol. Biol. 1:84-86; Horwitz, 1990In Virology, eds.B.N. Fields and D.M. Knipe, pps. 1679-1721. The first human adenoviruses (Ads) were isolated overfour decades ago. Since then, over 100 distinct adenoviral serotypes havebeen isolated which infectvarious mammalian species, 51 of whichareof human origin; Straus, 1984, In The Adenoviruses, ed.H.15 Ginsberg, pps. 451-498, New York:P1enus Press; Hierholzer et al., 1988 J. Infect. Dis. 158:804-813;Schnurrand Dondero, 1993, Mtervirology, 36:79-83; De Jonget al., 1999I Clin. Microbiol., 37:3940-5.The human serotypes havebeen categorized into six subgenera(A-F) based ona numberof biological,chemical, immunological and structural criteria which include hemagglutination properties of ratandrhesus monkey erythrocytes, DNA homology, restriction enzyme cleavage patterns, percentage G-+C20 contentand oncogenieity; Straus, supra-, Horwitz, supra.Adenoviruses are attractive targets for the delivery and expression of heterologous genes.Adenoviruses are ableto infecta wide variety of cells (dividing and non-dividing),and are very efficientin introducing theirDNA into infected host cells. Adenoviruses havenot been foundtobe associatedwith severe human pathologyin immuno-competent individuals. The viruses can be producedat high25 virus titers in large quantities. The adenovirus genome is very well characterized, consisting ofa lineardouble-strandedDNA moleculeof approximately 30,000-45,000 base pairs. Furthermore, despite theexistence of several distinct serotypes, there is some general conservation found amongst the variousserotypes.Safety in utilizing adenoviruses as gene delivery vehicles can be enhancedby rendering30 the viruses replication-defective through deletion/modificationof the essential early-region1 (“El”) ofthe viral genomes, rendering the viruses devoid (or essentially devoid) ofEl activity and, thus, incapableof replication in the intended host/vaccinee; see, e.g., Brodyet a1, 1994Ami NY Acad Sci., 716:90-101.Deletion of adenoviral genes other than El (e.g., in E2, E3, and/or E4), furthermore, creates adenoviralvectors with greater capacity for heterologous gene inclusion. Presently, two well-characterized