Figure 3.

IMGT Colliers de Perles of the two G-DOMAINs of MHC class I (A) and of MHC class II (B) proteins (codes PDB 1bd2 and 1aqd, respectively, in IMGT/3Dstructure-DB [9]). The IMGT Collier de Perles of a G-DOMAIN is based on the IMGT unique numbering for G-DOMAIN and G-LIKE-DOMAIN [18]. (A) The two MHC-I G-DOMAINs, G-ALPHA1 (top) and G-ALPHA2 (bottom), form the groove of the MHC class I chain (I-ALPHA). (B) The two MHC-II G-DOMAINs, G-ALPHA (top) of the MHC class II alpha chain (II-ALPHA) and G-BETA (bottom) of the MHC class II beta chain (II-BETA), form the groove of the MHC class II protein [36]. Amino acids are shown in the one-letter abbreviation. Hatched circles correspond to missing positions according to the IMGT unique numbering [18]. Positions in colour correspond to the IMGT contact sites provided, for each peptide/MHC 3D structure, in IMGT/3Dstructure-DB [36].