Polymorphism of the mouse T-cell receptor AV20S1 gene

• Published in: Immunogenetics (New York) 2000-04, Vol.51 (4-5), p.392-394
• Main Authors: Viret, C, Barlow, A K, Janeway, Jr, C A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; AV20S1 gene; Base Sequence; Genes, T-Cell Receptor alpha; Histocompatibility Antigens Class II - genetics; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Molecular Sequence Data; Polymorphism, Genetic; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
• ISSN: 0093-7711; 1432-1211
• DOI: 10.1007/s002510050636

The E alpha 6 T-cell clone was isolated following immunization of C57BL/6 mice with the E alpha 52-68 peptide (Barlow et al. 1998) corresponding to a conserved motif of the alpha chain of the I-E major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II molecule (Rudensky et al. 1991a, 1991b). In the course of characterizing the E alpha 6 T-cell receptor (TCR) alpha and beta chains, reverse transcription (RT), anchored PCR, and direct sequencing of PCR products permitted the identification of a single alpha -chain cDNA. A parallel PCR analysis performed on genomic DNA showed that in the E alpha 6 T cells, the TCR-A locus was rearranged on only one chromosome, as demonstrated by the detection of the TCR-D locus. This indicated that the isolated cDNA codes for a functional TCR alpha -chain protein. Apart from recognizable junctional- (AJ49) and constant-region sequences, the E alpha 6 TCR alpha -chain cDNA comprised a variable (AV) segment whose sequence is highly homologous to but distinct from the previously published V alpha 5T sequence (Marche et al. 1993) [AV20S1 according to the new nomenclature (Arden et al. 1995)]. The AV20S1 sequence was in fact isolated from cells with two distinct genetic backgrounds: the M5 T-cell line from BALB/c mice (designated V alpha 5T) (Marche et al. 1993) and autoantibody-inducing T cells from the lupus-susceptible (SWR x NZB)F1 mice (designated L-9.7/V alpha 23.1) (Mao et al. 1994). The published V alpha 5T and L-9.7/V alpha 23.1 sequences differ by only one base pair in the codon of the second amino acid in the leader sequence (this substitution is silent).