TCR3d: The T cell receptor structural repertoire database

A Summary: T cell receptors (TCRs) are critical molecules of the adaptive immune system, capable of recognizing diverse antigens, including peptides, lipids and small molecules, and represent a rapidly growing class of therapeutics. Determining the structural and mechanistic basis of TCR targeting of antigens is a major challenge, as each individual has a vast and diverse repertoire of TCRs. Despite shared general recognition modes, diversity in TCR sequence and recognition represents a challenge to predictive modeling and computational techniques being developed to predict antigen specificity and mechanistic basis of TCR targeting. To this end, we have developed the TCR3d database, a resource containing all known TCR structures, with a particular focus on antigen recognition. TCR3d provides key information on antigen binding mode, interface features, loop sequences and germline gene usage. Users can interactively view TCR complex structures, search sequences of interest against known structures and sequences, and download curated datasets of structurally characterized TCR complexes. This database is updated on a weekly basis, and can serve the community as a centralized resource for those studying T cell receptors and their recognition.