Epstein Barr virus entry; kissing and conjugation

•Epstein Barr virus glycoproteins mediating B lymphocyte and epithelial cell entry.•Epstein Barr virus switching of cellular tropism during infection.•Viral glycoprotein interaction to promote virus-cell fusion.•Physiological significance in the infected host.

Epstein Barr virus (EBV) is a highly prevalent human gamma 1 lymphocryptovirus which infects both B lymphocytes and epithelial cells. In the healthy host, infection of these different cell lineages broadly reflects the different phases of the virus lifecycle. Memory B cells are the reservoir for latent EBV, in which viral gene expression is highly restricted to maintain an asymptomatic lifelong infection. In contrast, epithelial cells may be a major site of the virus lytic cycle, where infectious virus is propagated and transmitted via saliva to uninfected hosts. To achieve this dual tropism, EBV has evolved a unique set of glycoproteins in addition to a highly conserved set, which interact with cell lineage-specific receptors and switch cellular tropism during infection.