Developmentally regulated and lineage-specific rearrangement of T cell receptor Valpha/delta gene segments.
To quantitate the frequency of Valpha/delta gene utilization by TCRgammadelta T cells we have generated a large panel of gammadelta T cell hybridomas and characterized their productive VDJ rearrangements. Using three novel mAb specific for the Vdelta5 chain and for several members of the Vdelta6 subfamily together with previously described Valpha- and Vdelta-specific mAb we have also quantitated the frequency of gammadelta and alphabeta cells expressing those Valpha/delta gene segments and located in different anatomical sites. We have also characterized the members of the Vdelta7/ADV10 subfamily expressed in C57BL/6 mice and analyzed the representation of individual ADV10 gene segments in alphabeta and gammadelta cells, as well as in precursor cells, in a situation in which TCR-dependent selection is negligible. Our results show that (i) although many Valpha/delta gene segments have the potential to rearrange to either Ddelta and Jdelta segments or to Jalpha segments, only a limited number of Valpha/delta gene segments are expressed by a quantitatively important fraction of gammadelta cells; (ii) such restricted usage of a limited number of Vdelta gene segments by gammadelta cells is mainly established at the level of V(D)J rearrangement, and (iii) there is very little overlap between Valpha/delta gene segments expressed by gammadelta and alphabeta cells.
Pereira
P
P
Unité du Développement des Lymphocytes, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique URA 1961, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France. ppereira@pasteur.fr
Hermitte
V
V
Lembezat
M P
MP
Boucontet
L
L
Azuara
V
V
Grigoriadou
K
K
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D019070:Cell Lineage; D015332:Gene Rearrangement, alpha-Chain T-Cell Antigen Receptor; D016694:Gene Rearrangement, delta-Chain T-Cell Antigen Receptor; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000166:cytology; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008811:Mice, Inbred DBA; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta / Q000235:genetics*; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta / Q000235:genetics*; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000166:cytology
D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta