Molecular relationship between private and public H-2 antigens as determined by antigen redistribution method.

Molecular relationship of public H-2 antigens 1, 5, 6, 8, 11, 13, 25, and 28 to private antigens controlled by K and D regions was studied using the technique of antibody-induced resistance to complement-mediated cytotoxicity. The results indicate physical association in the cell membrane between H-2 antigens 1 and 23 of H-2-a, 8 and 31 of H-2-d, 11 and 17 of H-2-q, 13 and 30 of H-2-q, 25 and 23 of H-2-k, and 28 and 31 of H-2-g. These results are in agreement with genetic mapping placing the determinants of antigens H-2.8, 11 and 25 in the K region , the determinant of antigen H-2.13 in the D region, and the determinants of antigens H-2.1 and 28 in either the K or the D region. In contrast to genetic mapping placing the determinant for antigen H-2.6 in the D region, we found that in the H-2-b haplotype the antigen is associated with K region antigen H-2.33 and H-2.32, and interpreted this result as evidence for two homologous H-2.5 sites controlled by opposite ends of the H-2 complex. Although the data do not prove that public antigens are carried by the same molecules as private ones, they demonstrate a close physical association in the membrane between the two groups of loci, K and D, coding for the first 33 classical H-2 antigens (with the exception of antigen H-2.7), and thus support the two-locus model. The data also support the duplication model of H-2 by demonstrating two homologous H-2.5 sites associated with K and D molecules.