An autonomous CDR3delta is sufficient for recognition of the nonclassical MHC class I molecules T10 and T22 by gammadelta T cells.
It remains unclear whether gammadelta T cell antigen receptors (TCRs) detect antigens in a way similar to antibodies or alphabeta TCRs. Here we show that reactivity between the G8 and KN6 gammadelta TCRs and the major histocompatibility complex class Ib molecule T22 could be recapitulated, with retention of wild-type ligand affinity, in an alphabeta TCR after grafting of a G8 or KN6 complementarity-determining region 3-delta (CDR3delta) loop in place of the CDR3alpha loop of an alphabeta TCR. We also found that a shared sequence motif in CDR3delta loops of all T22-reactive gammadelta TCRs bound T22 in energetically distinct ways, and that T10(d), which bound G8 with weak affinity, was converted into a high-affinity ligand by a single point mutation. Our results demonstrate unprecedented autonomy of a single CDR3 loop in antigen recognition.
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA. ejadams@uchicago.edu
Erin J
EJ
Adams
Pavel
P
Strop
Sunny
S
Shin
Yueh-Hsiu
YH
Chien
K Christopher
KC
Garcia
D000818:Animals; D001665:Binding Sites; D002942:Circular Dichroism; D022801:Complementarity Determining Regions / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation / Q000276:immunology*; D011485:Protein Binding; D020836:Protein Structure, Quaternary; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*
D022801:Complementarity Determining Regions; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta