Studies on the Polylysine Immune Responder Gene. The Rank Order of Immunogenicity of Dinitrophenyl Conjugates of Basic Homopolyamino Acids in Guinea Pigs

The poly-l-lysine (PLL) gene appears to control an “antigen-processing step” permitting responder guinea pigs to make immune responses to hapten-PLL conjugates. This paper reports the finding of a rank order of immunogenicity of dinitrophenyl (DNP) conjugates of basic homopolyamino acids: poly-l-lysine τ; poly-l-arginine τ; poly-l-homarginine τ; poly-l-ornithine in both antibody formation and delayed hypersensitivity in responder guinea pigs. A similar rank order was observed for the hydrolysis of these conjugates by crystalline trypsin, except that polyarginine was hydrolyzed slightly faster than was polylysine. Complexing the ornithine and homarginine conjugates to bovine serum albumin considerably increased their immunogenicity. These data indicate that the same gene controls the immunogenicity of all four basic polyamino acids. The data suggest the hypothesis that the above rank order may reflect the specificity of interaction of these conjugates with the PLL gene-product.