title: Identification of a T cell-specific transcriptional enhancer 3' of the human T cell receptor gamma locus.
abstract: Positive and negative transcriptional regulatory mechanisms are thought to play a major role in the expression of T cell antigen receptor (TCR) genes. Since the alpha beta and gamma delta T cell receptor heterodimers are expressed in a mutually exclusive fashion and since TCR genes are sequentially activated during T cell ontogeny, transcriptional activation and repression must at least in part determine T lineage-specific and developmental-specific expression of these genes. We have identified a transcriptional enhancer located 6.5 kb downstream from the human T cell receptor gamma (TRG) locus. The nucleotide sequence of the enhancer core element shows strong sequence homology to the recently identified murine C gamma 1 enhancer. The enhancer demonstrates T cell-specific activity, but not gamma delta sublineage-specificity in combination with either a heterologous or gene-specific promoter. Thus, additional regulatory elements may be required to repress the expression of rearranged TRG genes in non-gamma delta T cells.
authors.affiliation: Division of Immunology and Cancer Research, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hettmann
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cohen
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D002460:Cell Line; D004742:Enhancer Elements, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta / Q000235:genetics*; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000502:physiology*; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta