Restricted Expression of the Thymoproteasome Is Required for Thymic Selection and Peripheral Homeostasis of CD8+ T Cells.

The thymoproteasome subunit ß5t is specifically expressed in cortical thymic epithelial cells (TECs) and generates unique peptides to support positive selection. In this study, using a mouse model ubiquitously expressing ß5t, we showed that aberrant expression of self-peptides generated by ß5t affects CD8+ T cell homeostasis, including thymic selection and maintenance of the peripheral naive pool of CD8+ T cells. In mice in which ß5t was expressed both in cortical and medullary TECs, the abundance of CD8+ lineage thymocytes was reduced, and extra-thymic expression of ß5t caused accumulation of CD8+ T cells with the memory or exhausted phenotype and induced autoreactive T cell responses. We found that thymoproteasomes are essential for positive selection but that the subsequent change in peptide repertoire in the medulla is also crucial for thymic selection and that ß5t-derived peptide must be confined to the thymus to avoid autoimmunity in peripheral tissues.

Organic crystal-binding peptides: morphology control and one-pot formation of protein-displaying organic crystals.

Crystalline assemblies of fluorescent molecules have different functional properties than the constituent monomers, as well as unique optical characteristics that depend on the structure, size, and morphological homogeneity of the crystal particles. In this study, we selected peptides with affinity for the surface of perylene crystal particles by exposing a peptide-displaying phage library in aqueous solution to perylene crystals, eluting the surface-bound phages by means of acidic desorption or liquid-liquid extraction, and amplifying the obtained phages in Escherichia coli. One of the perylene-binding peptides, PeryBPb1: VQHNTKYSVVIR, selected by this biopanning procedure induced perylene molecules to form homogenous planar crystal nanoparticles by means of a poor solvent method, and fusion of the peptide to a fluorescent protein enabled one-pot formation of protein-immobilized crystalline nanoparticles. The nanoparticles were well-dispersed in aqueous solution, and Förster resonance energy transfer from the perylene crystals to the fluorescent protein was observed. Our results show that the crystal-binding peptide could be used for simultaneous control of perylene crystal morphology and dispersion and protein immobilization on the crystals.