Purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray crystallographic studies of swine MHC class I complexed with an FMDV CTL epitope Hu64.

Up to now, no crystal structure of swine leukocyte antigen 2 (SLA-2) molecules was reported. In order to elucidate the structure of SLA-2 and to study the cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) epitopes derived from foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV), a complex of swine major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecule (SLA-2 haplotype, Hebao allele) with swine β-microglobulin and the CTL epitope FMDV-Hu64 (ALLRTATYY) derived from O serotype of FMDV VP1 protein (residues 64-72) was refolded and crystallized. The crystal, which belonged to space group P222, diffracted to 2.5 Å resolution and had unit cell parameters a = 48.37, b = 97.75, c = 166.163 Å. These results will help to determine the first structure of a SLA-2 molecule in the context of an FMDV CTL epitope.