Predominant binding of Theiler's viruses to a 34-kilodalton receptor protein on susceptible cell lines.

Western immunoblots of BHK-21 cell lysates probed with the highly virulent GDVII and the less virulent BeAn strains of Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV) revealed predominant binding to a 34-kDa membrane protein and much lower levels of binding to 100- and 18-kDa membrane proteins. Complete inhibition of virus binding to both the 34- and 18-kDa membrane species by excess unlabeled TMEV demonstrated specificity of binding. Virus binding was also blocked by wheat germ agglutinin, which specifically binds to sialic acid residues and blocks TMEV binding to whole BHK-21 cells. Radiolabeled TMEV also bound to 100-, 34-, and 18-kDa membrane proteins expressed on other TMEV permissive cell lines but not on the nonpermissive cell lines tested. These data suggest that a 34-kDa cellular protein may be the primary determinant of susceptibility to TMEV infection by mediating the binding of GDVII and BeAn viruses to susceptible cells.