Monoclonal antibodies against La Crosse virus

Monoclonal antibodies have been used to show that an epitope is present on the G1 glycoprotein of prototype La Crosse virus that is absent or significantly altered on several isolates of La Crosse virus made in New York State, U.S.A. The portion of the G1 protein where this epitope is located plays a role in both virus neutralization and haemagglutination. Additional experiments revealed that under the appropriate assay conditions the monoclonal antibodies permitted discrimination between representatives of the North American members of the California serogroup.