B and T cell antigen receptors, certain receptors for immunoglobulin Fc regions and some viral proteins contain one or more copies of a approximately 26 amino acid motiftermed immunoreceptor-based tyrosine activation motif (ITAM) utilized for communication with cytoplasmic effectors during signal transduction. We propose to use matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometry to directly map the sites and determine the stoichiometry of phosphorylation of the ITAM-containing transducer components of the B cell receptor complex, Ig-alpha and Ig-beta. The studies will extend preliminary findings that the tyrosines in Ig-alpha and Ig-beta ITAMS are asymmetrically phosphorylated by various Src-family kinases in vitro and findings that suggest the asymmetry results in unique biological responses of B cells. The studies will assess whether asymmetrical ligand-induced tyrosine phosphorylation occurs as a function of B cell maturity and/or antigen affinity and valency. Immature and mature B cells from transgenic 3-83 mice will be stimulated with antigen, lysed and ITAMs immunoprecipitated using anti-Ig-alpha. Following SDS-PAGE separation and electroblotting onto nitrocellulose, strips representing Ig-alpha and Ig-beta bands will be excised, in situ enzymatic digests will be performed, and peptides extracted. MALDI-TOF win be used to map phosphorylation sites by postsource decay (PSD) analysis. Protein purification and mass spectrometric parameters will be optimized using synthetic ITAM peptides and chimeric mutants.
NIH ExPorter
NIH ExPorter