KB cells were infected with H5ts36 or H5ts125, two adenovirus type 5 (Ad5) mutants with a temperature-sensitive synthesis of virus DNA. Infection was started at the nonpermissive temperature and at 16 h p.i. the temperature was shifted down to the permissive temperature. Shortly after the shift-down H5ts125-infected cells showed an accumulation of purely single-stranded DNA of virus origin, which was not observed in H5ts36-infected cells. This single-stranded DNA has been characterized by hybridization and sedimentation analysis. It was found that the single-stranded DNA was derived from both complementary strands and consisted of short fragments. The observation that the single-stranded DNA accumulates in H5ts125-infected cells under conditions in which the amount of DNA binding protein is reduced, suggests that the DNA-binding protein is not only involved in initiation, but also in elongation of nascent strands.