Functional mapping of MHC class II polymorphic residues. The alpha-chain controls the specificity for binding an Ad-versus an A k-restricted peptide and the beta-chain region 65-67 controls T cell recognition but not peptide binding.

MHC proteins are polymorphic cell surface glycoproteins involved in the binding of peptide Ag and their presentation to T lymphocytes. The polymorphic amino acids of MHC proteins are primarily located in the N-terminal domains and are thought to influence T cell recognition both by influencing the binding of peptide Ag and by direct contact with the T cell receptor. In order to determine the relative importance of individual polymorphic amino acids in Ag presentation, a number of groups have taken the approach of interchanging polymorphic amino acids between different alleles of MHC protein in an attempt to define which of the polymorphisms influence peptide binding and which influence T cell recognition by direct contact with the TCR. The peptide OVA323-339 has been previously shown to bind to the MHC class II protein Ad and to have a much lower affinity for Ak, whereas the peptide hen egg lysozyme 46-61 binds well to Ak and poorly to Ad. In the present report, we have analyzed the ability of purified wild-type MHC class II proteins as well as the ability of three different hybrid molecules between Ad and Ak to bind and present these peptides. We find that the alpha-chain of the MHC class II protein plays a critical role in the binding of HEL46-61 and confers the specificity for binding OVA323-339, regardless of which beta-chain is present. We also find that the beta-chain region 65-67 does not control the specificity of peptide binding to the MHC protein, but is important in T cell responses to preformed MHC-peptide complexes, suggesting a role for this region in contacting the TCR.