Although dengue (DEN) virus is the etiologic agent of dengue fever, the most prevalent vector-borne viral disease in the world, precise information on the antigenic structure of the dengue virion is limited. We have prepared a set of murine monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) specific for the envelope (E) glycoprotein of DEN 2 virus and used these antibodies in a comprehensive biological and biochemical analysis to identify 16 epitopes. Following domain nomenclature developed for the related flavivirus, tick-borne encephalitis, three functional domains were identified. Five epitopes associated with domain A were arranged in three spatially independent regions. These A-domain epitopes were destroyed by reduction, and antibodies reactive with these epitopes were able to block virus hemagglutination, neutralize virus infectivity, and block virus-mediated cell membrane fusion. Domain-A epitopes were present on the full-length E glycoprotein, a 45-kDa tryptic peptide representing its first 400 amino acids (aa) and a 22-kDa tryptic peptide representing at least aa 1-120. Four epitopes mapped into domain B, as determined by their partial resistance to reduction and the localization of these epitopes on a 9-kDa tryptic or chymotryptic peptide fragment (aa 300-400). One domain-B-reactive MAb was also capable of binding to a DEN 2 synthetic peptide corresponding to aa 333-351 of the E glycoprotein, confirming the location of this domain. Domain-B epitopes elicited MAbs that were potent neutralizers of virus infectivity and blocked hemagglutination, but they did not block virus-mediated cell-membrane fusion. Domains A and B were spatially associated. As with tick-borne encephalitis virus, determination of domain C was more problematic; however, at least four epitopes had biochemical characteristics consistent with C-domain epitopes.

To study the role of the precursor to the membrane protein (prM) in flavivirus maturation, we inhibited the proteolytic processing of the Murray Valley encephalitis (MVE) virus prM to membrane protein in infected cells by adding the acidotropic agent ammonium chloride late in the virus replication cycle. Viruses purified from supernatants of ammonium chloride-treated cells contained prM protein and were unable to fuse C6/36 mosquito cells from without. When ammonium chloride was removed from the cells, both the processing of prM and the fusion activity of the purified viruses were partially restored. By using monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) specific for the envelope (E) glycoprotein of MVE virus, we found that at least three epitopes were less accessible to their corresponding antibodies in the prM-containing MVE virus particles. Amino-terminal sequencing of proteolytic fragments of the E protein which were reactive with sequence-specific peptide antisera or MAb enabled us to estimate the site of the E protein interacting with the prM to be within amino acids 200 to 327. Since prM-containing viruses were up to 400-fold more resistant to a low pH environment, we conclude that the E-prM interaction might be necessary to protect the E protein from irreversible conformational changes caused by maturation into the acidic vesicles of the exocytic pathway.

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