Major Histocompatibility Complex Class I: Difference between revisions
From Proteopedia
Jump to navigationJump to search
Eric Martz (talk | contribs) |
Eric Martz (talk | contribs) |
||
| Line 19: | Line 19: | ||
Wiley's team struggled for many years to obtain sufficient MHC protein and high quality crystals. During this struggle, their funding ran out but they persevered, using funds from other projects (personal communication to [[User:Emartz |Emartz ]] from Wiley, 1988). The MHC protein was obtained from cultures of human cells (the JY B lymphocyte cell line) by a well-established but arduous process that earlier had been used for obtaining the amino acid sequences of HLA proteins by Strominger and coworkers. Papain was used to cleave the soluble extracellular domains of the HLA MHC proteins from their transmembrane domains, and the HLA-A2 allelic product was purified, separating it from HLA-B7 also present on these cells. | Wiley's team struggled for many years to obtain sufficient MHC protein and high quality crystals. During this struggle, their funding ran out but they persevered, using funds from other projects (personal communication to [[User:Emartz |Emartz ]] from Wiley, 1988). The MHC protein was obtained from cultures of human cells (the JY B lymphocyte cell line) by a well-established but arduous process that earlier had been used for obtaining the amino acid sequences of HLA proteins by Strominger and coworkers. Papain was used to cleave the soluble extracellular domains of the HLA MHC proteins from their transmembrane domains, and the HLA-A2 allelic product was purified, separating it from HLA-B7 also present on these cells. | ||
Because the protein was obtained from living cells, its peptide-accomodating groove contained a mixture of unknown peptides. These appeared in the crystal structure of [[1hla]] as an electron density that could not be explained by the known sequence of HLA-A2. | Because the protein was obtained from living cells, its peptide-accomodating groove contained a mixture of unknown peptides. These appeared in the crystal structure of [[1hla]] as an electron density that could not be explained by the known sequence of HLA-A2. This was shown salmon-colored in their Figure 6b, lying within the HLA groove shown in blue. This preview of ghostly peptides being presented to T cells by MHC gave goosebumps to cellular immunologists of the time. | ||
(to be continued) | (to be continued) | ||
