We studied the difference in requirements for processing and presentation to a single T-cell clone of four different forms of the same epitope of sperm whale myoglobin--namely, on the native protein, on two conformationally altered forms of the protein, or as a 22-residue antigenic peptide fragment. The T-cell clone was I-Ed-restricted and specific for an epitope on the CNBr fragment 132-153 involving Lys-140. As inhibitors of macrophage processing of antigen, we used several agents that inhibit lysosomal function: the weak bases chloroquine and NH4Cl, the cationic ionophore monensin, and the competitive protease inhibitor leupeptin. When these agents were used to inhibit processing of antigen by presenting cells and then washed out before T cells were added to culture, they inhibited the presentation of native antigen but not of fragment 132-153. To our surprise, the intact but denatured form, S-methylmyoglobin, behaved like the fragment not like the native protein. Apomyoglobin was intermediate in susceptibility to inhibition. Thus, native myoglobin requires a processing step that appears to involve lysosomal proteolysis, which is not required by fragment 132-153 or the denatured unfolded forms. For an antigen the size of myoglobin (Mr 17,800), it appears that unfolding of the native conformation, rather than further reduction in size, is the critical parameter determining the need for processing. Since a major difference between native myoglobin and the other forms is the greater accessibility in the latter of sites, such as hydrophobic residues, buried in the native protein, we propose that processing may be necessary to expose these sites, perhaps for interaction with the cell membrane or the Ia of the antigen-presenting cell.
Assessment of the roles of the carboxyl-terminal beta 146 histidyl residues in the alkaline Bohr effect in human normal adult hemoglobin by high-resolution proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy requires assignment of the resonances corresponding to these residues. Previous resonance assignments in low ionic strength buffers for the beta 146 histidyl residue in the carbonmonoxy form of hemoglobin have been controversial [see Ho and Russu (1987) Biochemistry 26, 6299-6305; and references therein]. By a careful spectroscopic study of human normal adult hemoglobin, enzymatically prepared des(His146 beta)-hemoglobin, and the mutant hemoglobins Cowtown (beta 146His----Leu) and York (beta 146His----Pro), we have resolved some of these conflicting results. By a close incremental variation of pH over a wide range in chloride-free 0.1 M N-(2-hydroxyethyl)piperazine-N'-2-ethanesulfonic acid buffer, a single resonance has been found to be consistently missing in the proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of these hemoglobin variants. The spectra of each of these variants show additional perturbations; therefore, the assignment has been confirmed by an incremental titration of buffer conditions to benchmark conditions, i.e., 0.2 M phosphate, where the assignment of this resonance is unambiguous. The strategy of incremental titration of buffer conditions also allows extension of this resonance assignment to spectra taken in 0.1 M [bis(2-hydroxyethyl)amino]tris(hydroxymethyl)methane buffer. Participation of the beta 146 histidyl residues in the Bohr effect has been calculated from the pK values determined for the assigned resonances in chloride-free 0.1 M N-(2-hydroxyethyl)piperazine-N'-2-ethanesulfonic acid buffer. Our results indicate that the contribution of the beta 146 histidyl residues is 0.52 H+/hemoglobin tetramer at pH 7.6, markedly less than the 0.8 H+/hemoglobin tetramer estimated by study of the mutant hemoglobin Cowtown (beta 146His----Leu) by Shih and Perutz [(1987) J. Mol. Biol. 195, 419-422]. We have found that at least two histidyl residues in the carbonmonoxy form of this mutant have pK values that are perturbed, and we suggest that these pK differences may in part account for this discrepancy. Furthermore, summation of the positive contribution of the beta 146 histidyl residues and the negative contribution of the beta 2 histidyl residues to the maximum Bohr effect measured in 0.1 M N-(2-hydroxyethyl)piperazine-N'-2-ethanesulfonic acid buffer suggests that additional sites in the hemoglobin molecule account for proton release upon ligation greater than the contribution of the beta 146 histidyl residues.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
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