Skip to main content
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1985 May;82(9):2925–2929. doi: 10.1073/pnas.82.9.2925

Rearrangement of T-cell receptor beta-chain genes during T-cell development.

W Born, J Yagüe, E Palmer, J Kappler, P Marrack
PMCID: PMC397679  PMID: 3873070

Abstract

The kinetics and order of rearrangements in the gene complex encoding T-cell-receptor beta chains were studied by Southern blot hybridization in a collection of hybridomas derived from fetal thymocytes at various stages of ontogeny (day 14 to day 17). Our results show a steady increase in the frequency of rearranged beta complexes during this period and suggest that these rearrangements occur within the thymus. beta-chain diversity region (D beta) to beta-chain joining region (J beta) joining preceded other types of rearrangements. More complex hybridization patterns consistent with fully rearranged functional beta-chain genes did not begin to accumulate until day 16, 1 day prior to significant surface expression of the receptor protein.

Full text

PDF
2925

Images in this article

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Acuto O., Meuer S. C., Hodgdon J. C., Schlossman S. F., Reinherz E. L. Peptide variability exists within alpha and beta subunits of the T cell receptor for antigen. J Exp Med. 1983 Oct 1;158(4):1368–1373. doi: 10.1084/jem.158.4.1368. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Allison J. P., McIntyre B. W., Bloch D. Tumor-specific antigen of murine T-lymphoma defined with monoclonal antibody. J Immunol. 1982 Nov;129(5):2293–2300. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Alt F. W., Yancopoulos G. D., Blackwell T. K., Wood C., Thomas E., Boss M., Coffman R., Rosenberg N., Tonegawa S., Baltimore D. Ordered rearrangement of immunoglobulin heavy chain variable region segments. EMBO J. 1984 Jun;3(6):1209–1219. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1984.tb01955.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Cantor H., Weissman I. Development and function of subpopulations of thymocytes and T lymphocytes. Prog Allergy. 1976;20:1–64. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Chien Y., Becker D. M., Lindsten T., Okamura M., Cohen D. I., Davis M. M. A third type of murine T-cell receptor gene. Nature. 1984 Nov 1;312(5989):31–35. doi: 10.1038/312031a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Early P., Huang H., Davis M., Calame K., Hood L. An immunoglobulin heavy chain variable region gene is generated from three segments of DNA: VH, D and JH. Cell. 1980 Apr;19(4):981–992. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(80)90089-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Gascoigne N. R., Chien Y., Becker D. M., Kavaler J., Davis M. M. Genomic organization and sequence of T-cell receptor beta-chain constant- and joining-region genes. Nature. 1984 Aug 2;310(5976):387–391. doi: 10.1038/310387a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Hedrick S. M., Cohen D. I., Nielsen E. A., Davis M. M. Isolation of cDNA clones encoding T cell-specific membrane-associated proteins. Nature. 1984 Mar 8;308(5955):149–153. doi: 10.1038/308149a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Hedrick S. M., Nielsen E. A., Kavaler J., Cohen D. I., Davis M. M. Sequence relationships between putative T-cell receptor polypeptides and immunoglobulins. Nature. 1984 Mar 8;308(5955):153–158. doi: 10.1038/308153a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Hyman R., Cunningham K., Stallings V. Effect of gene dosage on cell-surface expression of Thy-1 antigen in somatic cell hybrids between Thy-1- Abelson-leukemia-virus induced lymphomas and Thy-1+ mouse lymphomas. Immunogenetics. 1981;12(3-4):381–395. doi: 10.1007/BF01561678. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Kappler J. W., Skidmore B., White J., Marrack P. Antigen-inducible, H-2-restricted, interleukin-2-producing T cell hybridomas. Lack of independent antigen and H-2 recognition. J Exp Med. 1981 May 1;153(5):1198–1214. doi: 10.1084/jem.153.5.1198. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Kappler J., Kubo R., Haskins K., White J., Marrack P. The mouse T cell receptor: comparison of MHC-restricted receptors on two T cell hybridomas. Cell. 1983 Oct;34(3):727–737. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90529-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Kavaler J., Davis M. M., Chien Y. Localization of a T-cell receptor diversity-region element. Nature. 1984 Aug 2;310(5976):421–423. doi: 10.1038/310421a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Kisielow P., Leiserson W., Von Boehmer H. Differentiation of thymocytes in fetal organ culture: analysis of phenotypic changes accompanying the appearance of cytolytic and interleukin 2-producing cells. J Immunol. 1984 Sep;133(3):1117–1123. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Kurosawa Y., von Boehmer H., Haas W., Sakano H., Trauneker A., Tonegawa S. Identification of D segments of immunoglobulin heavy-chain genes and their rearrangement in T lymphocytes. Nature. 1981 Apr 16;290(5807):565–570. doi: 10.1038/290565a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Malissen M., Minard K., Mjolsness S., Kronenberg M., Goverman J., Hunkapiller T., Prystowsky M. B., Yoshikai Y., Fitch F., Mak T. W. Mouse T cell antigen receptor: structure and organization of constant and joining gene segments encoding the beta polypeptide. Cell. 1984 Jul;37(3):1101–1110. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(84)90444-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Patten P., Yokota T., Rothbard J., Chien Y., Arai K., Davis M. M. Structure, expression and divergence of T-cell receptor beta-chain variable regions. Nature. 1984 Nov 1;312(5989):40–46. doi: 10.1038/312040a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Reth M. G., Alt F. W. Novel immunoglobulin heavy chains are produced from DJH gene segment rearrangements in lymphoid cells. 1984 Nov 29-Dec 5Nature. 312(5993):418–423. doi: 10.1038/312418a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Roehm N., Herron L., Cambier J., DiGuisto D., Haskins K., Kappler J., Marrack P. The major histocompatibility complex-restricted antigen receptor on T cells: distribution on thymus and peripheral T cells. Cell. 1984 Sep;38(2):577–584. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(84)90512-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Saito H., Kranz D. M., Takagaki Y., Hayday A. C., Eisen H. N., Tonegawa S. A third rearranged and expressed gene in a clone of cytotoxic T lymphocytes. Nature. 1984 Nov 1;312(5989):36–40. doi: 10.1038/312036a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Sakano H., Kurosawa Y., Weigert M., Tonegawa S. Identification and nucleotide sequence of a diversity DNA segment (D) of immunoglobulin heavy-chain genes. Nature. 1981 Apr 16;290(5807):562–565. doi: 10.1038/290562a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Siu G., Clark S. P., Yoshikai Y., Malissen M., Yanagi Y., Strauss E., Mak T. W., Hood L. The human T cell antigen receptor is encoded by variable, diversity, and joining gene segments that rearrange to generate a complete V gene. Cell. 1984 Jun;37(2):393–401. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(84)90369-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Siu G., Kronenberg M., Strauss E., Haars R., Mak T. W., Hood L. The structure, rearrangement and expression of D beta gene segments of the murine T-cell antigen receptor. 1984 Sep 27-Oct 3Nature. 311(5984):344–350. doi: 10.1038/311344a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Tonegawa S., Hozumi N., Matthyssens G., Schuller R. Somatic changes in the content and context of immunoglobulin genes. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol. 1977;41(Pt 2):877–889. doi: 10.1101/sqb.1977.041.01.097. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Wahl G. M., Stern M., Stark G. R. Efficient transfer of large DNA fragments from agarose gels to diazobenzyloxymethyl-paper and rapid hybridization by using dextran sulfate. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Aug;76(8):3683–3687. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.8.3683. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Yanagi Y., Yoshikai Y., Leggett K., Clark S. P., Aleksander I., Mak T. W. A human T cell-specific cDNA clone encodes a protein having extensive homology to immunoglobulin chains. Nature. 1984 Mar 8;308(5955):145–149. doi: 10.1038/308145a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Yancopoulos G. D., Desiderio S. V., Paskind M., Kearney J. F., Baltimore D., Alt F. W. Preferential utilization of the most JH-proximal VH gene segments in pre-B-cell lines. Nature. 1984 Oct 25;311(5988):727–733. doi: 10.1038/311727a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America are provided here courtesy of National Academy of Sciences

RESOURCES