{
  "abstract": "In chickens and humans, classical class I molecules of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) have a spectrum of correlated properties, including cell surface expression and peptide repertoire. Understanding the impact of these promiscuous generalists and fastidious specialists is of considerable interest. The promiscuous BF2 molecule from the chicken B21 haplotype, BF2*21:01, binds a wide range of peptides by remodelling the peptide-binding site, allowing co-variation of the anchor residues at peptide positions P₂ and Pc-2, and binding of an anchor residue at Pc. Using in vitro refolding assays with peptides and peptide libraries, determining thermostability and crystal structures, and analysing a chicken B21 cell line by immunopeptidomics, we found that BF2*21:01 will accommodate many possible combinations at P₂ and Pc-2, as well as several hydrophobic amino acids at Pc. However, marked preferences for particular peptide lengths, particular amino acids at the three anchor residues, and particular combinations of amino acids at P₂ and Pc-2 as well as at P₃ and Pc-3 together lead to high frequencies of major peptides while still allowing the possibility of presenting a wide peptide repertoire. These simplifying principles may eventually allow predictions of pathogen peptides with stable binding for this iconic promiscuous class I molecule, as well as providing the data for more sophisticated peptide prediction methods.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom",
    "University of Oxford, Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, Oxford, United Kingdom",
    "University of Edinburgh, Institute for Immunology and Infection Research, Edinburgh, United Kingdom",
    "Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge Centre for Proteomics, Cambridge, United Kingdom",
    "Basel Institute for Immunology, Basel, Switzerland",
    "Institute for Animal Health, Compton, United Kingdom",
    "Pirbright Institute, Pirbright, United Kingdom",
    "Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom",
    "Department of Structural Biology, St Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, United States",
    "University of Oxford, Centre for Immuno-Oncology, Old Road Campus, Headington, United Kingdom",
    "University of Oxford, Jenner Institute, Old Road Campus, Headington, United Kingdom",
    "University of Dundee, School of Life Sciences, Dundee, United Kingdom",
    "Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom",
    "Department of Immunobiology, Yale University, New Haven, United States"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 16,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Michael Harrison"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Paul E Chappell"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Samer Halabi",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4612-5234"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Maria Danysz"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Enock M Mararo",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1324-7825"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Lukasz Magiera",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8234-5066"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Clemens Hermann",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0009-9501"
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    {
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        3
      ],
      "name": "Michael J Deery"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Kathryn S Lilley"
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    {
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        4
      ],
      "name": "Hans-Joachim Wallny"
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    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "David W Avila"
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    {
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        5,
        6
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      "name": "William Mwangi"
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    {
      "affs": [
        5,
        6,
        7
      ],
      "name": "Venugopal Nair"
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    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        8
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      "name": "Susan M Lea",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-9287-8053"
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    {
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        9,
        10,
        11
      ],
      "name": "Nicola Ternette",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9283-0743"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        2,
        4,
        5,
        12,
        13
      ],
      "name": "Jim Kaufman",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-7216-8422"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9131hjkbk67bj.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.7554/elife.111098",
  "fulltext_url": "https://elifesciences.org/articles/111098",
  "id": "9131hjkbk67bj",
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    "2050-084X"
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  "landing_url": "https://elifesciences.org/articles/111098",
  "language": "eng",
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  "metadata_licence": null,
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      "elife",
      "immunology-inflammation"
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      "heading",
      "Immunology and Inflammation"
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      "heading",
      "Research Article"
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      "openalex",
      "1312|vaccines and immunoinformatics approaches"
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  "pdf_url": "https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/111098/elife-111098-v1.pdf",
  "pmcid": "PMC13727077",
  "pmid": "42970346",
  "published": "2026-11-02",
  "publisher": "eLife Sciences Publications",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9131hjkbk67bj.ris",
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      "first_seen": "2026-11-03T15:20:51Z",
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  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "elife:immunology-inflammation",
      "subfield": "immunology"
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  "title": "Simplifying principles underlying the highly complex peptide motif of the promiscuous chicken MHC class I molecule, BF2*21:01",
  "title_text": "Simplifying principles underlying the highly complex peptide motif of the promiscuous chicken MHC class I molecule, BF2*21:01",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-06T12:22:52Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9131hjkbk67bj",
  "venue": "eLife",
  "versions": []
}