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How did the primordial T cell receptor and MHC molecules function initially?
Author(s) -
Kurosawa Yoshikazu,
Hashimoto Keiichiro
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
immunology and cell biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.999
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1440-1711
pISSN - 0818-9641
DOI - 10.1038/icb.1997.28
Subject(s) - major histocompatibility complex , t cell receptor , biology , mhc class i , gene , genetics , receptor , phylogenetic tree , mhc restriction , t cell , microbiology and biotechnology , immune system , evolutionary biology
Two genes, designated Trsc‐UAA and Trsc‐UBA , which encode highly polymorphic major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules in the shark Trtakis scyllia were isolated. The identification of these genes indicates that the classical MHC class I was already established at the level of elasmobranches during animal evolution. At the emergence of the MHC/T cell receptor recognition system, the number of genes for T cell receptors (TCR) must have been just one. In this brief review, the way in which a small number of TCR could have recognized MHC‐oligopeptide complexes initially, based on recent progress in the phylogenetic analysis of the immune systems in primitive vertebrates, is discussed.