Origin of the vaccinia virus hemagglutinin.

The relationship between the vaccinia virus hemagglutinin and hemadsorption was examined. Hemagglutinin synthesis was temporally related to the appearance of the hemadsorption reaction. Only chicken erythrocytes, which reacted with hemagglutinin, hemadsorbed to infected cells, and both of these reactions were inhibited by Ca(2+). The distribution of the vaccinia hemagglutinin and 5'-adenosine monophosphatase, a plasma membrane marker enzyme, in sucrose gradients was similar. Plasma membrane ghosts derived from infected cells hemadsorbed erythrocytes and yielded hemagglutinin upon sonic disruption. These data suggest that the majority of vaccinia hemagglutinin is derived from the plasma-membrane of the infected cell.