Evidence that multiple residues on both the alpha-helices of the class I MHC molecule are simultaneously recognized

P Ajitkumar1, S S Geier, K V Kesari

  • 1Department of Cell Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461.

Cell
|July 1, 1988
PubMed

Single amino acid substitutions at nine different positions on the H-2Kb molecules from in vitro-mutagenized, immunologically altered, somatic cell variants were correlated with their patterns of recognition by monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) and allogeneic cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) clones. While MAbs were found to detect spatially discrete, domain-specific sites, CTLs interacted simultaneously with multiple residues on the alpha 1 and alpha 2 domains of the Kb molecule. The computer graphic three-dimensional Kb model structure showed that, of the seven CTL-specific residues analyzed, six residues were located on the alpha-helical regions of the two domains. Every CTL clone was found to interact with a distinct pattern of residues composed of a specific subset of the CTL-specific residues.

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