Establishment of a system to quantify wild-type herpes simplex virus–induced cell–cell fusion reveals a role of N-glycosylation of HSV-1 envelope glycoprotein B in cell–cell fusion

Abstract

Wild-type herpes simplex virus (HSV) strains infrequently mediate cell–cell fusion in cell cultures and barely induce large multinucleated cells. In this study, we established a system to quantify infrequent cell–cell fusion induced by wild-type HSV strains. The established system clarified that the HSV-1 envelope glycoprotein B and its N-glycosylation at asparagine at position 141 were required for efficient cell–cell fusion. This study provides a link between cell–cell fusion induced by wild-type HSV-1 and viral pathogenesis in vivo.