The Juxtamembrane Domain of Butyrophilin BTN3A1 Controls Phosphoantigen-Mediated Activation of Human Vγ9Vδ2 T Cells.

Vγ9Vδ2 T lymphocytes are the major human peripheral γδ T cell subset, with broad reactivity against stressed human cells, including tumor cells. Vγ9Vδ2 T cells are specifically activated by small phosphorylated metabolites called phosphoantigens (PAg). Stress-induced changes in target cell PAg levels are specifically detected by butyrophilin (BTN)3A1, using its intracellular B30.

The intracellular B30.2 domain of butyrophilin 3A1 binds phosphoantigens to mediate activation of human Vγ9Vδ2 T cells.

In humans, Vγ9Vδ2 T cells detect tumor cells and microbial infections, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis, through recognition of small pyrophosphate containing organic molecules known as phosphoantigens (pAgs). Key to pAg-mediated activation of Vγ9Vδ2 T cells is the butyrophilin 3A1 (BTN3A1) protein that contains an intracellular B30.2 domain critical to pAg reactivity.

Combined use of MS2 and PP7 coat fusions shows that TIA-1 dominates hnRNP A1 for K-SAM exon splicing control.

Splicing of the FGFR2 K-SAM exon is repressed by hnRNP A1 bound to the exon and activated by TIA-1 bound to the downstream intron. Both proteins are expressed similarly by cells whether they splice the exon or not, so it is important to know which one is dominant. To answer this question, we used bacteriophage PP7 and bacteriophage MS2 coat fusions to tether hnRNP A1 and TIA-1 to distinct sites on the same pre-mRNA molecule.

Cooperative binding of TIA-1 and U1 snRNP in K-SAM exon splicing activation.

In 293 cells, splicing of the human fibroblast growth factor receptor-2 K-SAM alternative exon is inefficient, but can be made efficient by provoking TIA-1 binding to the U-rich IAS1 sequence downstream from the exon's 5' splice site. We show here that TIA-1 domains known to interact with U1 snRNP and to recruit it to 5' splice sites in vitro are required for TIA-1 activation of K-SAM exon splicing in vivo. We further show that tethering downstream from the K-SAM exon a fusion between the U1 snRNP component U1C and the bacteriophage MS2 coat protein provokes IAS1-dependent exon splicing, and present evidence that the fusion functions after its incorporation into U1 snRNP.