Human and murine class I MHC antigens share conserved serine 335, the site of HLA phosphorylation in vivo.

The site of phosphorylation of the HLA-B7 antigen in vivo is serine 335, which is located in the intracellular region. Pseudomonas fragi protease was used in limited proteolysis experiments of HLA antigens to identify the position of the phosphoserine residue. The intracellular region is composed of 30 amino acids at the carboxyl terminus of the heavy chain; up to nine serine residues are located in this region. Four of the serines are found at the distal end, and are encoded by exon 7 in both human and murine class I MHC antigens. Alignment of the protein and DNA sequences of the intracellular regions of human and murine class I antigens demonstrates conservation of the serine positions located within this exon. Realignment of exon 7, by introducing a gap in the murine sequences, increases homology across species, and reveals two conserved serines at 332 and 335 within the conserved sequence Ser-Asp/Glu-X-Ser(P)-Leu. The preservation of this sequence and the site of phosphorylation suggests that this modification of the intracellular region of histocompatibility antigens is functionally significant.