Lack of correlation of Theiler's virus binding to cells with infection

The DA strain of Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV) is a picornavirus which infects the murine central nervous system (CNS). During the acute stage versus the chronic stage, different cell-types are infected. To clarify the shift seen during persistent infection, we have screened various cell lines for their ability to support TMEV infection and used virus binding assays to determine if there was a correlation between permissiveness and virus binding. Cell lines of different origins were able to support virus infection to varying degrees. Infectious center assays and viral binding assay demonstrated that permissiveness to virus infection and the ability of virus to attach to the cell surface did not always correlate.