The SJL mouse strain is resistant to infection by some strains of the murine coronavirus mouse hepatitis virus (MHV), such as JHM and A59. The block to virus infection has been variously attributed to defects in virus receptors or virus spread. Since the cellular receptors for MHV, mmCGM1 and mmCGM2, have recently been identified as members of the carcinoembryonic antigen family, we reexamined the possible defectiveness of the MHV receptors in SJL mouse strain. Cloning and sequencing of the cDNAs of both mmCGMs RNAs from SJL mice revealed that they were identical in size to those of the susceptible C57BL/6 (B6) mouse. There was some sequence divergence in the N terminus of the mmCGM molecules between the two mouse strains, resulting in a different number of potential glycosylation sites. This was confirmed by in vitro translation of the mmCGM RNAs, which showed that the glycosylated mmCGM2 of SJL was smaller than that of B6 mice. However, transfection of either mmCGM1 or mmCGM2 from SJL mice into MHV-resistant Cos 7 cells rendered the cells susceptible to MHV infection. The ability of the SJL mmCGM molecules to serve as MHV receptors was comparable to that of those from B6. These molecules are expressed in SJL mouse brain and liver in a similar ratio and in amounts equivalent to those in the B6 mouse. Furthermore, we demonstrated that an SJL-derived cell line was susceptible to A59 but resistant to JHM infection. We concluded that the MHV receptor molecules in the SJL mouse are functional and that the resistance of SJL mice to infection by some MHV strains most likely results from some other factor(s) required for virus entry or some other step(s) in virus replication.