Cell membrane potential changes follow epstein‐barr virus binding

Abstract

Upon binding to receptor-bearing target cells, viruses cause cell membrane potential changes. Epstein-Barr Virus causes a biphasic membrane potential change in receptor-bearing B lymphocytes but not receptor-negative T lymphocytes, as measured by flow cytometry or cyanine dye uptake. Membrane potential changes from EBV binding to receptor-bearing cells resemble electrical responses of other cells following ligand binding to transmembrane receptors.

Modification of Membrane Permeability by Animal Viruses

“…Additional support for this concept is provided by the fact that virions modify membrane potential during entry (Fuchs and Kohn, 1983;Rosenthal and Shapiro, 1983;Seth et al, 1985;Bashford et al, 1985), probably as a consequence of the capacity of virion proteins to form ion channels Spruce et al, 1991;Tosteson et al, 1993). In addition, SFV does not enter cells when the membrane potential is abolished by modifying the concentration of monovalent cations, even under acidic conditions (Helenius et al, 1985).…”

Modification of membrane permeability by animal viruses

“…Additional support for this concept is provided by the fact that virions modify membrane potential during entry (Fuchs and Kohn, 1983;Rosenthal and Shapiro, 1983;Seth et al, 1985;Bashford et al, 1985), probably as a consequence of the capacity of virion proteins to form ion channels Spruce et al, 1991;Tosteson et al, 1993). In addition, SFV does not enter cells when the membrane potential is abolished by modifying the concentration of monovalent cations, even under acidic conditions (Helenius et al, 1985).…”

Evidence for osmotic constraint in F-type bacterial mating

“…The role of membrane potential in bacterial conjugation is currently unknown, but one can hypothesize that it may act, via the pilus, as the 'mating signal', i.e., the signal (nature unknown) thought to pass between donor and recipient and to act as a trigger for the conjugal process [4]. This concept is particularly attractive given the growing body of evidence that membrane potentials are involved in a variety of contact phenomena, e.g., phage-bacterium contact [5] and the binding of viruses to mammalian cells [6].…”