Antigenic and biochemical analysis of gB of herpes simplex virus type 1 and type 2 and of cross-reacting glycoproteins induced by bovine mammillitis virus and equine herpesvirus type 1.

An antiserum was produced to the oligomeric form of glycoprotein B (gB) induced by herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) strain 17. This antiserum gave a single common precipitin line in agar gel immunodiffusion with HSV-1, HSV-2, bovine mammillitis virus (BMV) and equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1). It also neutralized HSV-1, HSV-2 and BMV but not EHV-1. Absorption of the antiserum with excess HSV-2 or BMV antigen resulted in an HSV-1-specific neutralizing antiserum. In immunoprecipitation, two proteins, gB and pgB, were precipitated from HSV-1- and HSV-2-infected cells and at least three from BMV- and EHV-1-infected cells. Glycoprotein B and pgB of three HSV-1 and three HSV-2 strains and the corresponding antigenically related glycoproteins of BMV- and EHV-1-infected cells were labelled with 125I, digested with trypsin and the resulting peptides separated by two-dimensional thin-layer chromatography or high-pressure liquid chromatography. The resulting profiles were found to be almost identical, suggesting considerable structural conservation of the peptide backbone of the antigenically related glycoproteins of these four viruses.