Molecular Interactions Of Lymphoid Cell Receptors

该项目利用了实验室在研究分子相互作用和分子结构方面的专业知识。具体地说，在我们之前对tapasin样分子TAPBPR的结构研究之后，我们最近确定了肽加载复合物（PLC）的主要伴侣蛋白组分tapasin与MHC-I分子HLA-B*44：05复合的X射线晶体学结构。这种结构扩展了我们对MHC-I分子如何装载肽的结构细节的知识，分子构象调整是由分子伴侣tapasin进行的，以稳定MHC-I分子的肽接受构象，以及tapasin在允许有利于高亲和力肽的肽交换中发挥的催化作用。这些基本的观察使我们对肽装载过程的分子理解更加精确。除了这些结构研究之外，我们还产生了TAPBPR敲除小鼠，并正在研究TAPBPR和tapasin在抗原呈递和交叉呈递过程中的作用。

This project takes advantage of the laboratory's expertise in studying molecular interactions and molecular structure. Specifically, following up on our previous structural studies of the tapasin-like molecule, TAPBPR, we have recently determined the X-ray crystallographic structure of the major chaperone component of the peptide-loading complex (PLC), tapasin, in complex with an MHC-I molecule, HLA-B*44:05. This structure extends our knowledge of the structural details of how MHC-I molecules load with peptides, the molecular conformational adjustments that are made by the chaperone, tapasin, to stabilize a peptide receptive conformation of the MHC-I molecule, and the catalytic role that tapasin plays in allowing peptide exchange favoring high affinity peptides. These fundamental observations refine our molecular understanding the peptide loading process. In addition to these structural studies, we have generated TAPBPR knockout mice and are studying the role of TAPBPR and tapasin in the processes of antigen presentation and cross-presentation.