title: Molecular characterization of the diabetes-associated mouse MHC class II protein, I-Ag7.
abstract: The MHC class II molecule of the non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice, I-Ag7, is associated with susceptibility to autoimmune diabetes. To try to understand the molecular basis of this association, we analyzed the peptide binding properties and intracellular behavior of I-Ag7 in comparison with other I-A haplotypes. We found that I-Ag7 molecules manifested normal intracellular trafficking and lifespan, and a small but clearly detectable fraction of I-Ag7 in the cells formed SDS-resistant compact dimers. The binding of an antigenic reference peptide to I-Ag7 was stable and was accompanied by compact dimer formation. Our analysis of the binding specificity of I-Ag7 revealed a peptide binding motif of nine amino acids with a degenerate position at P1 and three conserved anchor positions: P4, P6 and P9. An allele-specific preference for negatively charged residues was found at P9, apparently due to the presence of the rare Ser residue at position 57 of the I-Ag7 beta chain. These findings could have implications for the mechanisms of MHC-mediated susceptibility to autoimmune diabetes in the NOD mice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Reizis
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eisenstein
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bocková
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Könen-Waisman
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mor
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Elias
authors.forename: I R
authors.initials: IR
authors.lastname: Cohen
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D016688:Mice, Inbred NOD; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010455:Peptides / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D011485:Protein Binding / Q000276:immunology; D011487:Protein Conformation
chemical_list: D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II; D010455:Peptides