Judging a virus by its cover.

The production of protective neutralizing antibodies occurs quickly in some viral infections but very slowly in others. In a new study, surface glycoproteins (the targets of neutralization) of 2 different viruses were genetically switched. Analysis of the neutralizing antibody response to each of the 2 parent and recombinant viruses in infected mice revealed that the speed of neutralizing antibody induction was intrinsically dependent on the surface glycoprotein and not the rest of the virus.