Mitchell Kronenberg

Mouse T cell antigen receptor: Structure and organization of constant and joining gene segments encoding the β polypeptide

The germ-line joining (J) gene segments and constant (C) genes encoding the beta chain of the mouse T cell antigen receptor have been isolated on a single cosmid clone. There are two constant genes, C beta 1 and C beta 2, each associated with a cluster of J beta gene segments. The nucleotide sequences of the C beta 2 gene and of the J beta 2 cluster gene segments have been determined. The coding sequence of the C beta 2 gene is very similar to the sequence of a cDNA clone encoded by the C beta 1 gene. The C beta 2 gene has four exons; exon-intron structure does not obviously correspond to the functional domains of the protein. The J beta 2 gene segment cluster contains six functional J gene segments. We have isolated specific probes for the C beta 1, C beta 2, J beta 1, and J beta 2 regions to examine DNA rearrangements in T lymphocytes. DNA rearrangements can occur in both J beta gene segment clusters, and both C beta genes appear functional.

The T cell receptor β chain genes are located on chromosome 6 in mice and chromosome 7 in humans

Homologous clones that encode the beta chain of the T cell antigen receptor have been isolated recently from both murine and human cDNA libraries. These cDNA clones have been used in connection with interspecies hybrid cell lines to determine that the murine T cell receptor gene is located on chromosome 6 and the human gene on chromosome 7. In situ hybridization confirms these data and further localizes these genes to band B of chromosome 6 in the mouse and bands 7p13-21 in the human genome. The organization of the T cell antigen receptor J beta gene segments and C beta genes appears to be conserved, since very few intraspecies polymorphisms of restriction fragment length have been detected in either mouse or human DNA.

Finding the T-cell antigen receptor: Past attempts and future promise

Obtention recente, dans plusieurs laboratoires, danticorps monoclonaux specifiques de cellules T clonees particulieres. Par la caracterisation des proteines reconnues par ces anticorps, on peut sattendre a ce que les genes codant pour le recepteur pour lantigene des cellules T soient isoles dans un proche avenir

Genes, structures and function of T lymphocyte antigen receptors

Our knowledge of the genes encoding the T-cell antigen receptors has expanded dramatically in the last year. Much of the new data was presented at a recent EMBO workshop. The participants attempted to integrate the structural and genetic information with some of the immunological properties of T lymphocytes.