The interaction between mAb A16 and glycoprotein D (gD) of herpes simplex virus type 1 was analyzed by studying the kinetics of binding with a surface-plasmon-resonance biosensor. mAb A1 6 belongs to group VII antibodies, which recognize residues 11 -19 of gD. In a previous study, three critical residues, Aspl3, Argl6 and Phel7, of this epitope were identified by screening a phage display library that contained a random 15-amino-acid insert with the antibody. The contribution to binding of these residues in the motif DXXRF was further analyzed by an amino-acid-replacement study of the epitope gD-(9-19)-peptide and of a gD-(9-19)-peptide mimotope, previously obtained by screening the phage display library. Amino acid residues of the motif were replaced by a neutral amino acid residue, an amino acid residue with opposite charge and a corresponding D-amino acid residue. Kinetic parameters of peptide analogues were determined with a surface plasmon-resonance biosensor. The kinetic parameters of the peptide analogues were compared with the kinetic parameters of the interaction between mAb A16 and the epitope gD-(9-19)-peptide. The minimal size of the gD epitope for mAb A16 was also determined in this study. The kinetic constants of the resulting gD-(ll-l7)-peptide were found to be similar to those of entire gD. The kinetic analysis precisely defined the epitope on gD for mAb A16 to residues 11 -17, identified Argl6 as an essential residue and suggested that Asp13 and Phel7 are mainly involved in stabilization of the secondary structure of the peptide.Keywords: herpes simplex virus 1 ; glycoprotein D; linear epitope ; kinetics ; surface plasmon resonance.Glycoprotein D (gD) of herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 1 is an essential component of the virion envelope for the entry of HSV into mammalian cells [I] and is one of the HSV proteins on which immunological and vaccine studies have focused. Immunization of mice with gD of HSV-1 results in high neutralizing-antibody titers against HSV-1, and these mice are protected against a lethal HSV challenge [ 2 ] . mAbs directed against different regions of gD of HSV-1 have been divided into groups according to their antigenic sites [3], mAbs which recognize amino acid residues 11 -19 in the N-terminus are designated as group VII mAbs [4, 51. mAb A16 is a group VII mAb that binds a synthetic peptide consisting of amino acid residues 9-19 of gD [6, 71. Immunization with synthetic peptides comprising this region of HSV gD protected mice against a lethal challenge with HSV [8, 91. Substitution studies showed that Pro14 and Argl6 are important for binding of mAb A16 [7]. Additional information on residues that interact with mAb A16 was obtained by screening a random peptide library displayed on a filamentous bacteriophage [lo] with the antibody.Peptide sequences obtained by screening such a library resemble or mimic the epitope and are designated as mimotopes. We identified one mimotope. Its smallest synthetic version able to inhibit binding of the gD-(9-19)-peptide to mAb A16 was a ...