Natural Cytotoxicity Triggering Receptor 1 (NCR1)

Natural cytotoxicity triggering receptor 1 is a protein encoded by the NCR1 gene. By screening a human NK cell cDNA library, Pessino et al. (1998) cloned the cDNA for NKp46, or LY94, an Ig superfamily member that may cooperate with other activating receptors. The LY94 cDNA encodes a 304-amino acid type I transmembrane protein.

The extracellular region is preceded by a 21-residue signal peptide with 2 cysteine-bridged C2-type Ig-like domains. A stem connects the extracellular domain to the apparently short transmembrane domain of 19 amino acids, which includes an arginine. The intracellular region contains 30 amino acids and is rich in basic residues, but does not contain any immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activating motifs (ITAM).