Localization of allodeterminants on H-2Kb antigens determined with monoclonal antibodies and H-2 mutant mice.

The topographic arrangement of antigenic determinants on the H-2Kb molecule was investigated by antibody competition studies with a series of monoclonal anti-Kb antibodies. For identification of amino acid residues participating in formation of allodeterminants H-2Kb mutant mice with defined amino acid substitutions were analyzed. The determinants were found to be located in at least two spatially separate clusters on the H-2Kb molecule. Determinants of one cluster are affected by mutations at amino acid positions 155 and 156, whereas determinants of a second cluster are modified by amino acid substitutions at positions 77 and 89. For a third cluster of determinants no relevant amino acid positions could be identified, but competition data indicate that this cluster is adjacent to the second one. The data suggest that the first two domains of H-2 antigens carry most allodeterminants.