Role of glycoprotein gD in the adhesion of pseudorabies virus infected cells and subsequent cell-associated virus spread.

Pseudorabies virus (PrV) infected cells in suspension are able to adhere to a monolayer of uninfected cells by means of PrV glycoproteins expressed at the outer cell membrane, with gB and gC playing a major role as ligands and a heparinlike substance as receptor. In order to investigate the role of gD in this process and subsequent transmission of infectivity to contact cells, experiments with a gD deletion mutant, heparin and a monoclonal antibody (Mab) against gD were performed. The first indication that gD is active during cell adhesion was found by the observation that the binding of gD- PrV infected cells was five times weaker than that of wild type (WT) PrV infected cells.