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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Apr 1.
Published in final edited form as: Curr Opin Immunol. 2010 Jan 13;22(2):185–192. doi: 10.1016/j.coi.2009.12.006

Figure 1. Lineages and TCR expression.

Figure 1

In a wt mouse the majority of αβ lineage cells are initially driven by the pre-TCR which in case of a productive Tcra rearrangement is later replaced by the TCRαβ at the DP stage, whereas γδ lineage differentiation correlates well with TCRγδ expression. However, small populations in wt mice that are exaggerated in various knock-out and transgenic models do not follow these rules. Early TCRαβ expression can lead to the development of γδ lineage-like cells which avoid progression through the DP stage, whereas both TCRαβ and TCRγδ expression can support progression to the DP stage and thus αβ lineage differentiation in the absence of a pre-TCR. We speculate that these ‘non-canonical’ pathways might in fact be mainstream in the species that lack a pre-TCR.