title: A conserved sequence in the mouse variable T cell receptor alpha recombination signal sequence 23-bp spacer can affect recombination.
abstract: Although the V-gene segments coding for the TCR alpha and delta chains are mixed together in the alpha delta locus and are recombined by the same processes, some gene segments (TRAV) are rearranged only with TCR Jalpha gene segments, some (TRDV) only with TCR Ddelta gene segments and some (TRADV) with both. To date, no molecular signal is known that can characterize these three different types of gene segments. Studying the recombination signal sequences (RSS) of all mouse TCR V-gene segments we observed that 80% of the TRAV contain a palindrome sequence (CTGCAG) or its related variant CTGTAG in their 23-bp spacer. Using gel-shift assays we show that these sequences are specifically recognized by some nuclear proteins that are expressed by fresh thymocytes, fresh lymphocytes and tumor cells. Recombination assays on plasmid substrates in a pre-B cell line showed that RSS containing the CTGCAG sequence can impair recombination. From the protein fractions containing the CTGCAG-binding activity, three proteins were identified: G3BP1 (a nucleic-acid-binding protein with a proposed helicase activity) and two proteins from the high-mobility group (HMG) family--HMGB2 and HMGB3. We hypothesize that these proteins can affect recombination at the TCR alpha delta locus.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Cell Biology, Department of Immunology, Auf der Morgenstelle 15, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Jochen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Probst
authors.forename: Sibylle G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Blumenthal
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tenzer
authors.forename: Toni
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Weinschenk
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dittmer
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Schoor
authors.forename: Adrien
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Six
authors.forename: Hans-Georg
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Rammensee
authors.forename: Steve
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pascolo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D051379:Mice; D009154:Mutation; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell / Q000235:genetics*; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000378:metabolism; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell