In article <5p1ov8$24u6 at uni.library.ucla.edu>, Ng <holeung at ucla.edu> wrote:
> Hello. In Stryer's Biochemistry textbook, he writes that MHC
>molecules contain the consensus sequence of the antigen peptides that
>they bind, "thus, peptides capable of being presented by an MHC protein
>are homologus to a portion of the MHC protein itself." I have been
>unable to find papers that mention this homology. No mention is made
>of this in the recent reviews I've looked through.
> Any leads? Thank you!
I think Stryer may be confused on this one. I am currently doing my grad
research on MHC Class II antigen processing, and I have never heard of this.
While it *is* true that peptides from MHC molecules can be presented by other
MHC molecules, I don't know of any study showing a homology between an MHC
molecule and the peptides it is able to present. For what it is worth, the
motifs for MHC binding are not very complex - usually just 2-3 amino acids in
specific spacing arrangements - so there is a good chance that a protein as
big as an MHC molecule is going to have peptides that can bind to most MHC
molecules, including itself.
Ken Frauwirth
--
Ken Frauwirth (MiSTie #33025) _ _
frauwirt at mendel.berkeley.edu |_) * |/ (_ |\ |
http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~frauwirt/ |_) | () |\ (_ | \|
DNRC Title: Chairman of Joint Commission on In-duh-vidual Affairs
