Drosophila Schneider 2 (S2) cells: A novel tool for studying HSV-induced membrane fusion

Qing Fan, Kevin P. Bohannon, Richard Longnecker*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Drosophila S2 cells and mammalian CHO-K1 cells were used to investigate the requirements for HSV-1 cell fusion. Infection assays indicated S2 cells were not permissive for HSV-1. HVEM and nectin-1 mediated cell fusion between CHO-K1 cells and S2 cells when either CHO-K1 or S2 cells were used as target cells. Interestingly, PILRα did not mediate fusion between CHO-K1 or S2 cells due to a glycosylation defect of PILRα and gB in S2 cells. Fusion activity was not detected for any receptor tested when S2 cells were used both as target cells and effector cells indicating S2 cells may lack a key cellular factor present in mammalian cells that is required for cell fusion. Thus, insect cells may provide a novel tool to study the interaction of HSV-1 glycoproteins and cellular factors required for fusion, as well as a means to identify unknown cellular factors required for HSV replication.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)100-109
Number of pages10
JournalVirology
Volume437
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 15 2013

Keywords

  • CHO-K1 cells
  • Drosophila S2 cells
  • Fusion activity
  • HSV-1

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Virology

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