Role of La Crosse virus glycoproteins in attachment of virus to host cells.

Data presented in this report demonstrate that the initial event of La Crosse virus (LACV) infection of cells is probably the interaction of viral glycoproteins with specific cellular receptor sites. We have shown that LACV glycoprotein G1 binds, in a dose-dependent manner, to continuous vertebrate and mosquito cell lines, but not to mosquito midguts isolated ex vivo. This binding can be inhibited by the pretreatment of cells with excess homologous glycoprotein but not with excess heterologous LACV glycoprotein. In contrast, we have shown that LACV glycoprotein G2 binds to the continuous mosquito cell line and vector midgut cells, but not to vertebrate cells. LACV infection of vertebrate cells can be inhibited by treatment of cells with purified G1, while infection in mosquito cells can be reduced by treatment of cells with a combination of G1 and G2. The results suggest that G1 is the viral attachment protein (VAP) for vertebrate cells, and that G2 serves the same purpose for mosquito midgut cells. We speculate that the protease-resistant G2 molecule may have evolved to serve as the VAP in the midgut under conditions in which G1 might be altered or removed from the virus envelope, and thus is essential to the evolution and maintenance of vertebrate-invertebrate transmission cycles.