Genetic Control of the Immune Response in Guinea Pigs to the Known Sequence Polymer (Tyr-Ala-Glu-Gly)n

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Abstract
The genetic control of the immune response to randomly polymerized polypeptides containing amino acids such as glutamic acid, alanine, and tyrosine is now well established in inbred guinea pigs (1, 2). Recent advances in the field of peptide chemistry now make possible the synthesis of polypeptides of similar amino acid composition but with defined amino acid sequences. Studies with these polymers may yield information on the specificity of the genetic control at the molecular level. We have reported the synthesis of (Tyr-Glu-Ala-Gly)n of 53,000 m.w. (3). Under physiologic conditions, it exists primarily in the α-helical configuration and is immunogenic in some Hartley guinea pigs and in inbred strain 13 guinea pigs, but not in strain 2 guinea pigs (4). We have recently synthesized a polymer of similar amino acid composition but with a different sequence, (Tyr-Ala-Glu-Gly)n, of 33,000 m.w. and have shown that it too is α-helical under physiologic conditions (Zeiger and Maurer, manuscript in preparation).

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