Marginal zone (MZ) B cells produce broad-spectrum antibodies that protect against infection early in life. In some instances, antibody production requires MZ B cells to display pathogen antigens bound to major histocompatibility complex class II (MHC II) molecules to T cells. We describe the trogocytic acquisition of these molecules from conventional dendritic cells (cDCs). Complement component 3 (C3) binds to murine and human MHC II on cDCs. MZ B cells recognize C3 with complement receptor 2 (CR2) and trogocytose the MHC II-C3 complexes, which become exposed on their cell surface. The ubiquitin ligase MARCH1 limits the number of MHC II-C3 complexes displayed on cDCs to prevent their elimination through excessive trogocytosis. Capture of C3 by MHC II thus enables the transfer of cDC-like properties to MZ B cells.
B-Lymphocytes/immunology , Complement C3/metabolism , Dendritic Cells/immunology , Lymphoid Tissue/immunology , Trogocytosis , Adult , Animals , Antigen Presentation , B-Lymphocytes/metabolism , Cell Membrane/metabolism , Complement Activation , Complement C3/immunology , Dendritic Cells/metabolism , Female , HLA-D Antigens/immunology , HLA-D Antigens/metabolism , Histocompatibility Antigens Class II/metabolism , Humans , Male , Mice , Mice, Inbred BALB C , Mice, Inbred C3H , Mice, Inbred C57BL , Middle Aged , Receptors, Complement 3d/immunology , Receptors, Complement 3d/metabolism , T-Lymphocytes/immunology , Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases/genetics , Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases/metabolism , Ubiquitination
MARCH1 and MARCH8 are ubiquitin ligases that control the expression and trafficking of critical immunoreceptors. Understanding of their function is hampered by three major knowledge gaps: (i) it is unclear which cell types utilize these ligases; (ii) their level of redundancy is unknown; and (iii) most of their putative substrates have been described in cell lines, often overexpressing MARCH1 or MARCH8, and it is unclear which substrates are regulated by either ligase in vivo. Here we address these questions by systematically analyzing the immune cell repertoire of MARCH1- or MARCH8-deficient mice, and applying unbiased proteomic profiling of the plasma membrane of primary cells to identify MARCH1 and MARCH8 substrates. Only CD86 and MHC II were unequivocally identified as immunoreceptors regulated by MARCH1 and MARCH8, but each ligase carried out its function in different tissues. MARCH1 regulated MHC II and CD86 in professional and "atypical" antigen presenting cells of hematopoietic origin, including neutrophils, eosinophils and monocytes. MARCH8 only operated in non-hematopoietic cells, such as thymic and alveolar epithelial cells. Our results establish the tissue-specific functions of MARCH1 and MARCH8 in regulation of immune receptor expression and reveal that the range of cells constitutively endowed with antigen-presentation capacity is wider than generally appreciated.
