Background: Members of the p47 (immunity-related GTPases (IRG) family) GTPases are essential, interferon-inducible resistance factors in mice that are active against a broad spectrum of important intracellular pathogens. Surprisingly, there are no reports of p47 function in humans.

The recently identified p47 GTPases are one of the most effective cell-autonomous resistance systems known against intracellular pathogens in the mouse. One member of the family, LRG-47, has been shown to be essential for immune control in vivo of Listeria monocytogenes, Toxoplasma gondii, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and Mycobacterium avium, possibly by promoting acidification of the phagosome. However, the intracellular localization of LRG-47, and the nature of its association with the phagosomal or any other membrane system is unknown. In this study, we show that LRG-47 is a Golgi-associated protein in the IFN-stimulated cell, which is rapidly recruited to active plasma membrane upon phagocytosis and remains associated with phagosomes as they mature. We show that the Golgi localization of LRG-47 is dependent on the integrity of an amphipathic helix near the C terminus, whereas the plasma membrane localization depends on an unidentified signal associated with the G domain. Unlike LRG-47, but like the published p47 resistance GTPase, IGTP, a further p47 GTPase, IIGP1, is associated with the endoplasmic reticulum. However, unlike IGTP, IIGP1 is associated with the endoplasmic reticulum by an N-terminal myristoylation modification. Thus, the p47 GTPases are a diverse battery of intracellular defense factors dynamically associated with different membrane systems.

Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules present peptides from degraded intracellular antigens to CD8+ T cells. These peptides are translocated in an ATP-dependent fashion into the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) for binding to class I molecules by means of the MHC-encoded transporters associated with antigen processing, TAP1 and TAP2. These are members of a family of proteins containing an ATP-binding cassette and form heterodimers in the ER membrane. Defects in the genes encoding TAP1 or TAP2 account for impaired class I assembly and antigen presentation in several human and rodent cell lines. Whereas MHC class I molecules select peptides according to binding motifs, it is not clear to what extent the TAP1-TAP2 transporters have peptide sequence and length specificity. Previous studies of the rat MHC class I molecule RT1Aa, suggested a specific conveyance of peptides by rat TAP1-TAP2. Here we substitute the amino- and carboxy-terminal and the penultimate amino-acid residues of model peptides to show that these residues influence the efficiency of transport. Human TAP and rat TAPa translocated peptides with hydrophobic and basic C termini, whereas mouse TAP and rat TAPu preferred peptides with hydrophobic C termini. This pattern correlates with the predominant peptide binding profiles of mouse and human class I molecules.

In mammalian cells, short peptides derived from intracellular proteins are displayed on the cell membrane associated with class I molecules of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). The surface presentation of class I-peptide complexes presumably alerts the immune system to intracellular viral protein synthesis. Peptides derived from the cytosol must reach the cisternae of the endoplasmic reticulum where they are required for the assembly of stable class I molecules, and it has been proposed that the products of the two MHC-encoded ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter genes function to deliver the peptides across the membrane of the endoplasmic reticulum. This idea is supported by experiments in which transfection of a human cell line defective in class I expression with a complementary DNA of one of these genes restored cell surface expression levels. Here we show that the complete phenotype of the mouse mutant cell line RMA-S, in which lack of surface expression of stable class I molecules correlates with an inability to present viral peptides originating in the cytosol, is repaired by the cDNA of the other transporter gene. These results are consistent with the possibility that the two transporter polypeptides form a heterodimer.