Inhibition of VSV binding and infectivity by phosphatidylserine: is phosphatidylserine a VSV-binding site?

Recently we described a saturable, high-affinity binding site for vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) on the surface of Vero cells that appears to mediate viral infectivity. To isolate this binding site, we have extracted Vero cells with the detergent, octyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside. The dialyzed detergent extract specifically inhibits the saturable, high-affinity binding of 35S-methionine-labeled VSV to Vero cells. The inhibitory activity is resistant to protease, neuraminidase and heating to 100 degrees C. It is soluble in chloroform-methanol and inactivated by phospholipase C, suggesting that it is a phospholipid. Of various purified lipids tested, only phosphatidylserine was capable of totally inhibiting the high-affinity binding of VSV. The half-maximal inhibitory concentration for phosphatidylserine was 1 microM. Phosphatidylserine also inhibited VSV plaque formation by 80%-90%; Herpes simplex virus plaque formation was unaffected. Centrifugation and electron microscopy studies have shown that phosphatidylserine-containing liposomes bind to VSV. The finding that phosphatidylserine directly binds to VSV and inhibits VSV attachment and infectivity suggests that plasma membrane phosphatidylserine could function as a binding site or portion of a binding site for VSV.