The sizes of the CDR3 hypervariable regions of the murine T-cell receptor beta chains vary as a function of the recombined germ-line segments.
A method using PCR amplification and primer extension with fluorescent oligonucleotides was developed to analyze T-cell repertoires. The sizes of the hypervariable CDR3-like regions of the murine T-cell antigen receptor beta chains were measured for all possible V beta-J beta combinations. This analysis shows that beta chains are distributed into at least 2000 groups, a value that provides a lower limit to their complexity. The CDR3 sizes appear to be dependent on the J beta and especially the V beta segment used and correlates with amino acid sequence motifs in the corresponding CDR1 region. This feature of T-cell receptors is discussed.
Pannetier
C
C
Unité de Biologie Moléculaire du Gène, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Medicale, Institut Pasteur.
Cochet
M
M
Darche
S
S
Casrouge
A
A
Zöller
M
M
Kourilsky
P
P
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D003062:Codon / Q000235:genetics; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006239:Haplotypes; D008285:Major Histocompatibility Complex; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008970:Molecular Weight; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000276:immunology
D003062:Codon; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta; D004247:DNA