
IgM antigen receptor complex contains phosphoprotein products of B29 and mb-1 genes.
Author(s) -
Kerry S. Campbell,
Eric Hager,
R J Friedrich,
John C. Cambier
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.88.9.3982
Subject(s) - phosphoprotein , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , gene product , tyrosine phosphorylation , signal transduction , peptide sequence , biochemistry , receptor , signal peptide , cell surface receptor , gene , gene expression
Membrane immunoglobulin M (mIgM) and mIgD are major B-lymphocyte antigen receptors, which function by internalizing antigens for processing and presentation to T cells and by transducing essential signals for proliferation and differentiation. Although ligation of mIgM or mIgD results in rapid activation of a phospholipase C and a tyrosine kinase(s), these receptors have cytoplasmic tails of only three amino acid residues (Lys-Val-Lys), which seem ill suited for direct physical coupling with cytoplasmic signal transduction structures. In this report, we identify the alpha, beta, and gamma components of the mIgM-associated phosphoprotein complex, which may play a role in signal transduction. Proteolytic peptide mapping demonstrated that the IgM-alpha chain differs from Ig-beta and Ig-gamma. The chains were purified, and amino-terminal sequencing revealed identity with two previously cloned B-cell-specific genes. One component, IgM-alpha, is a product of the mb-1 gene, and the two additional components, Ig-beta and Ig-gamma, are products of the B29 gene. Immunoblotting analysis using rabbit antibodies prepared against predicted peptide sequences of each gene product confirmed the identification of these mIgM-associated proteins. The deduced sequence indicates that these receptor subunits lack inherent protein kinase domains but include common tyrosine-containing sequence motifs, which are likely sites of induced tyrosine phosphorylation.