title: Restricted diversity of V gamma 9-JP rearrangements in unstimulated human gamma/delta T lymphocytes.
abstract: The diversity of human peripheral blood gamma/delta T cells is known to be limited by the preferential use of V genes coding for V gamma 9 (usually linked to JP) and V delta 2. We show that the diversity of these cells is further limited at the junctional region. First, an identical rearrangement is found in 10%-30% of all gamma/delta T cells which contain V gamma 9-JP rearrangements. Second, the vast majority of V gamma 9-JP rearrangements which are different from this predominant sequence have, nevertheless, the same length or code for variable regions whose length differs by only one amino acid (+/- 1). Overall, 30%-50% of V gamma 9-JP rearrangements have a junctional region which encodes for a peptide with the amino acid sequence E VX EL, in which EV is predominantly, but not exclusively, encoded by the germ-line V gamma 9 sequence and EL is encoded by JP. The X amino acid is variable, but a glutamine is over-represented. The diversity of the V gamma 9-JP repertoire is fairly constant in different individuals and at different ages, including before, during and after the post-natal expansion of peripheral blood gamma/delta T cells.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Génétique Moléculaire, Faculté Xavier Bichat, Paris, France.
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Delfau
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Hance
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lecossier
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vilmer
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Grandchamp
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005784:Gene Amplification; D015329:Gene Rearrangement, T-Lymphocyte; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta