Increased binding activity of measles virus to monkey red blood cells after long-term passage in Vero cell cultures.
Recent field isolates of measles virus (MV) obtained by using B95-8 cells have been reported not to agglutinate African green monkey red blood cells (AGM-RBC). Vero cell-adapted, plaque-forming strains derived from three field isolates at the third passage in Vero cell cultures (T8Ve-3, T11Ve-3 and N13Ve-3) also exhibited markedly decreased binding activity, as determined by infectivity-absorption and haemadsorption tests. On the other hand, binding activity of the respective strains at the twentieth passage (T8Ve-20, T11Ve-20 and N13Ve-20) increased to practically the same level as that of the Edmonston strain, a standard strain of MV passaged long-term. A membrane immunofluorescence test revealed that the decreased binding activity to AGM-RBC of T8Ve-3, T11Ve-3 and N13Ve-3 was not due to decreased expression of the haemagglutinin (H) protein on the cell surface. The deduced amino acid sequence of the H protein synthesized in T11Ve-3-infected cells was identical to that in T11Ve-20-infected cells, although a single amino acid alteration was observed when T8Ve-3 was compared with T8Ve-20. Similarly, approximately half of the N13Ve-20-infected cells synthesized an H protein identical to that produced in N13Ve-3-infected cells, and nevertheless, exhibited markedly increased haemadsorption. The present results suggest that a viral protein(s) other than the H protein contributed to the binding activity of MV to AGM-RBC.
Shibahara
K
K
Department of Microbiology, Kobe University School of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan.
Hotta
H
H
Katayama
Y
Y
Homma
M
M
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000235:genetics; D006387:Hemagglutination, Viral / Q000502:physiology*; D006389:Hemagglutinins, Viral / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008459:Measles virus / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012692:Serial Passage; D014709:Vero Cells / Q000821:virology; D010948:Viral Plaque Assay; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
D006389:Hemagglutinins, Viral; D014764:Viral Proteins; C032397:hemagglutinin protein G, measles virus