Critical role of an eight-amino acid sequence of VP1 in neutralization of poliovirus type 3.

The three serotypes of poliovirus are members of the picornaviradae, a group of viruses which cause a variety of diseases of considerable importance in man and animals. We have previously used antigenic mutants resistant to neutralizing monoclonal antibodies to identify a single antigenic site for the neutralization of poliovirus type 3 (ref. 1). Evidence based on oligonucleotide mapping suggested that this site corresponded largely to one physicochemical region of the capsid protein viral polypeptide 1 (VP1). We now present conclusive evidence that most of the mutations conferring resistance to neutralization are confined to an eight-amino acid region of VP1, specified by a sequence of viral RNA 277-300 bases from the start of the region coding for VP1. These data strongly suggest that this small region constitutes a major antigenic site involved in virus neutralization and they provide the most detailed information currently available on the antigenic site of a human virus.