Effect of anchor residue modifications on the stability of HLA-A11/peptide complexes

R Gavioli1, Q J Zhang, M Marastoni

  • 1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Ferrara, Italy.

MHC class I antigens bind peptides derived from endogenous proteins and present them to cytotoxic T lymphocytes. This binding is selective and shows high allele specificity. Peptides binding to HLA-A11 contain a hydrophobic or a small polar amino acid at position 2 and a lysine at the carboxy terminus. Peptide analogues, derived from previously identified high affinity peptides and carrying amino acid substitutions in position 2, were used to determine the requirements for formation of stable HLA-A11/peptide complexes. By kinetic analysis we were able to discriminate among apparent and true binders. Only analogues carrying in position 2 the amino acids valine, threonine and isoleucine formed stable complexes with HLA-A11 with a half life > or = 72 hours.

Related Concept Videos

Ligand Binding Sites02:40

Ligand Binding Sites

Proteins are dynamic macromolecules that carry out a wide variety of essential processes; however, the activities of most proteins depend on their interactions with other molecules or ions, known as ligands.
Protein-ligand interactions are quite specific; even though numerous potential ligands surround a cellular protein at any given time, only a particular ligand can bind to that protein. Moreover, a ligand binds only to a dedicated area on the surface of the protein, known as the...
Conserved Binding Sites01:49

Conserved Binding Sites

Many proteins’ biological role depends on their interactions with their ligands, small molecules that bind to specific locations on the protein known as ligand-binding sites. Ligand-binding sites are often conserved among homologous proteins as these sites are critical for protein function.
Binding sites are often located in large pockets, and if their location on a protein’s surface is unknown, it can be predicted using various approaches. The energetic method computationally analyses the...
Lipids as Anchors01:32

Lipids as Anchors

In the plasma membrane, the lipids forming the bilayer can also act as an anchor to tether proteins to the membrane. The three main types of lipid anchors found in eukaryotes are – prenyl groups, fatty acyl groups, and glycosylphosphatidylinositol or GPI groups. Prenyl and fatty acyl groups act as anchors on the cytosolic surface of the membrane, whereas GPI anchors proteins on the extracellular side.
The carboxy-terminal of most of the prenylated proteins, such as Ras proteins, contains the...