Submit and disulfide structure of monomeric and dimeric forms of detergent-soluble HLA antigens.

The structure of monomeric and disulfide-bonded dimeric forms of HLA antigens has been studied. Detergent-soluble HLA antigen heavy chains contain one or two easily reduced sulfhydryl groups not found in papain-solubilized HLA antigens, as demonstrated by amino acid analysis (Springer, T. A., and Strominger, J.L. (1976) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 73, 2481-2485, and Terhorst, C., Parham, P., Mann, D.L., and Strominger, J.L. (1976) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 73, 910-914) and by labeling with iodo[3H]acetate. Dimer formation occurred during purification, since it was prevented by pretreatment of membranes containing HLA antigen with iodoacetamide. Cross-linking studies showed that the non-disulfide-bonded form of HLA antigens contains one subunit each of the Mr = 44,000 heavy chain and the Mr = 12,000 light chain (beta2-microglobulin).