Shared antigenic determinants between two distinct classes of proteins in cells infected with herpes simplex virus

Abstract

Guinea pig antisera and mouse monoclonal antibodies against a 40,000 MW nucleocapsid protein (p40) of herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 immunoprecipitated 40,000 and 80,000 MW classes of soluble proteins from infected [African green monkey kidney Vero] cell extracts. The soluble 40,000 MW protein class (intracellular p40) appeared as a cluster of 3-4 closely spaced bands of proteins having MW ranging between 39,000-45,000; the soluble 80,000 MW protein class (intracellular p80) appeared as a doublet of bands. The peptide map of intracellular p40 closely resembled the maps of the p40 and p45 proteins of nucleocapsids but it showed differences and similarities when compared with the peptide map of intracellular p80. Pulse-chase experiments suggested that intracellular p80 was not a precursor of intracellular p40. The intracellular p40 and p80 protein classes share common antigenic determinants, presumably reflecting similar amino acid sequences, although they have distinct differences in protein structure.