Stephen C. Dreskin

Scope The unstructured region of Ara h 2, referred to as epitope 3, contains a repeated motif, DYPSh (h = hydroxyproline) that is important for IgE binding. Methods and results IgE binding assays to 20mer and shorter peptides of epitope 3, defines a 16mer core sequence containing one copy of the DPYSh motif, DEDSYERDPYShSQDP. This study performs alanine scanning of this and a related 12mer mimotope, LLDPYAhRAWTK. IgE binding, using a pool of 10 sera and with individual sera, is greatly reduced when alanine is substituted for aspartate at position 8 (D8; p < 0.01), tyrosine at position 10 (Y10; p < 0.01), and hydroxyproline at position 12 (h12; p < 0.001). IgE binding to alanine‐substituted peptides of a mimotope containing the DPY_h motif confirm the critical importance of Y ( p < 0.01) and h ( p < 0.01), but not D. Molecular modeling of the core and mimotope suggests an h‐dependent conformational basis for the recognition of these sequences by polyclonal IgE. Conclusions IgE from pooled sera and individual sera differentially bound amino acids throughout the sequences of Epitope 3 and its mimotope, with Y10 and h12 being most important for all sera. These results are highly significant for designing hypoallergenic forms of Ara h 2.