TBEV-particles are assembled in an immature, noninfectious form in the endoplasmic reticulum by the envelopment of the viral core (containing the viral RNA) by a lipid membrane associated with two viral proteins, prM and E.
Immature particles are transported through the cellular exocytic pathway and conformational changes induced by acidic pH in the trans-Golgi network allow the proteolytic cleavage of prM by furin, a cellular protease, resulting in the release of mature and infectious TBE-virions.
The E protein controls cell entry by mediating attachment to as yet ill-defined receptors as well as by low-pH-triggered fusion of the viral and endosomal membrane after uptake by receptor-mediated endocytosis.
Because of its key functions in cell entry, the E protein is the primary target of virus neutralizing antibodies, which inhibit these functions by different mechanisms.
Although all flavivirus E proteins have a similar overall structure, divergence at the amino acid sequence level is up to 60 percent (e.g. between TBE and dengue viruses), and therefore cross-neutralization as well as (some degree of) cross-protection are limited to relatively closely related flaviviruses, such as those constituting the tick-borne encephalitis serocomplex.
