Alternative forms of a strain-specific neutralizing antigenic site on the Sindbis virus E2 glycoprotein

Experiments with monoclonal antibodies raised against two laboratory strains of Sindbis virus, SB and SIN, suggested the existence of a strain-specific neutralizing antigenic site (E2-b) on the E2 glycoprotein. A comparison of monoclonal antibody binding patterns and E2 glycoprotein gene sequences of six laboratory strains distinguished three different configurations of E2-b that correlated with specific amino acid substitutions at position 216 of the E2 glycoprotein. Further study of neutralization escape mutants selected with E2-b-specific antibodies confirmed that amino acid 216 is a major determinant of the E2-b antigenic site. Eight of nine mutants showed a coding change at position 216. One neutralization escape mutation created a new glycosylation site at position 213 and resulted in an E2 protein with an altered migration rate in SDS-PAGE. The neutralization escape mutants studied included amino acid substitutions not found in the laboratory strains that revealed differing binding requirements for two E2-b-specific monoclonal antibodies. The E2-b site is contrasted with the E2-c neutralizing antigenic site described previously (R.A. Olmsted, W.J. Meyer, and R.E. Johnston, 1986, Virology 148, 245-254).