Binding of truncated peptides to the MHC molecule IAd

Abstract
A peptide comprising amino acids 323–339 of chicken ovalbumin is known to bind to two heterodimeric conformations of the MHC molecule IAd, and to each of its separate α- and β-chains. We report that minor C- and N-terminal truncations of the parent peptide do not alter the binding pattern. A decrease in binding activity was observed upon deletion of the histidine residues of the already truncated peptides. Peptides as short as 4 amino acids associate weakly with all four proteins