The T cell receptor triggering apparatus is composed of monovalent or monomeric proteins.

Understanding the component stoichiometry of the T cell antigen receptor (TCR) triggering apparatus is essential for building realistic models of signal initiation. Recent studies suggesting that the TCR and other signaling-associated proteins are preclustered on resting T cells relied on measurements of the behavior of membrane proteins at interfaces with functionalized glass surfaces. Using fluorescence recovery after photobleaching, we show that, compared with the apical surface, the mobility of TCRs is significantly reduced at Jurkat T cell/glass interfaces, in a signaling-sensitive manner.

Single-molecule level analysis of the subunit composition of the T cell receptor on live T cells.

The T cell receptor (TCR) expressed on most T cells is a protein complex consisting of TCRalphabeta heterodimers that bind antigen and cluster of differentiation (CD) 3epsilondelta, epsilongamma, and zetazeta dimers that initiate signaling. A long-standing controversy concerns whether there is one, or more than one, alphabeta heterodimer per complex. We used a form of single-molecule spectroscopy to investigate this question on live T cell hybridomas.