title: Transporters associated with antigen processing (TAP) in sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax, L.): molecular cloning and characterization of TAP1 and TAP2.
abstract: The transporters associated with antigen processing (TAP), play an important role in the MHC class I antigen presentation pathway. In this work, sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) TAP1 and TAP2 genes and transcripts were isolated and characterized. Only the TAP2 gene is structurally similar to its human orthologue. As other TAP molecules, sea bass TAP1 and TAP2 are formed by one N-terminal accessory domain, one core membrane-spanning domain and one canonical C-terminal nucleotide-binding domain. Homology modelling of the sea bass TAP dimer predicts that its quaternary structure is in accordance with that of other ABC transporters. Phylogenetic analysis segregates sea bass TAP1 and TAP2 into each subfamily cluster of transporters, placing them in the fish class and suggesting that the basic structure of these transport-associated proteins is evolutionarily conserved. Furthermore, the present data provides information that will enable more studies on the class I antigen presentation pathway in this important fish species.
authors.affiliation: Fish Immunology and Vaccinology Group, IBMC - Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre 823, 4150-180 Porto, Portugal. rsp@ibmc.up.pt
authors.forename: Rute D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Pinto
authors.forename: Pedro J B
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.forename: Nuno M S
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: dos Santos
mesh_terms: D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017951:Antigen Presentation / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D001492:Bass / Q000276:immunology*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D008285:Major Histocompatibility Complex; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D010802:Phylogeny; D020836:Protein Structure, Quaternary; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters