Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Structural Evidence for a Germline-Encoded T Cell Receptor - Major Histocompatibility Complex Interaction 'Codon'

Journal Article · · Nat. Immunol. 8:975,2007
OSTI ID:953981
All complexes of T cell receptors (TCRs) bound to peptide-major histocompatibility complex (pMHC) molecules assume a stereotyped binding 'polarity', despite wide variations in TCR-pMHC docking angles. However, existing TCR-pMHC crystal structures have failed to show broadly conserved pairwise interaction motifs. Here we determined the crystal structures of two TCRs encoded by the variable {beta}-chain 8.2 (V{sub {beta}}8.2), each bound to the MHC class II molecule I-A{sup u}, and did energetic mapping of V{sub {alpha}} and V{sub {beta}} contacts with I-A{sup u}. Together with two previously solved structures of V{sub {beta}}8.2-containing TCR-MHC complexes, we found four TCR-I-A complexes with structurally superimposable interactions between the V{sub {beta}} loops and the I-A {alpha}-helix. This examination of a narrow 'slice' of the TCR-MHC repertoire demonstrates what is probably one of many germline-derived TCR-MHC interaction 'codons'.
Research Organization:
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515
OSTI ID:
953981
Report Number(s):
SLAC-REPRINT-2009-411
Journal Information:
Nat. Immunol. 8:975,2007, Journal Name: Nat. Immunol. 8:975,2007 Vol. 8
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Similar Records

Hard wiring of T cell receptor specificity for the major histocompatibility complex is underpinned by TCR adaptability
Journal Article · Wed Jul 07 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA · OSTI ID:1002497

Constraints within major histocompatibility complex class I restricted peptides: Presentation and consequences for T-cell recognition
Journal Article · Wed Mar 24 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA · OSTI ID:1002317

A highly tilted binding mode by a self-reactive T cell receptor results in altered engagement of peptide and MHC
Journal Article · Sun Jan 16 23:00:00 EST 2011 · Journal of Experimental Medicine · OSTI ID:1014355