Antiidiotypic antibodies as probes for the Sindbis virus receptor

Rabbit polyclonal antiidiotypic antibodies were made to mouse monoclonal antibodies that neutralize the infectivity of Sindbis virus. One of the antiidiotypic antisera obtained has properties characteristic of an antireceptor antiserum. It binds to the surface of chicken cells as shown by immunofluorescence and partially blocks virus binding to these cells as determined by binding of radiolabeled virus or by a plaque reduction assay. It also immunoprecipitates a protein with a molecular weight of 63,000 from chicken cells. From the fact that the antiserum will only partially block virus uptake, and that it does not block uptake of a variant of Sindbis virus resistant to the monoclonal antibody used to produce the antiidiotypic antiserum, we propose that at least two distinguishable receptors can be used by Sindbis virus to enter chicken cells. Furthermore, the receptors used by Sindbis to enter BHK cells appear to be different from those on chicken cells, at least in part, in that the antiidiotypic antiserum does not recognize the BHK counterpart of the chicken cell receptor. We suggest that the alphaviruses use a number of distinguishable receptors which differ depending on the host and the tissue. In chicken cells the 63,000 molecular weight protein may be one of them. The diversity of such multiple receptors could account for the very wide host range of the alphaviruses, which infect mosquitoes, birds, and mammals.