| First Author | Cabaniols JP | Year | 2001 |
| Journal | J Exp Med | Volume | 194 |
| Issue | 9 | Pages | 1385-90 |
| PubMed ID | 11696602 | Mgi Jnum | J:117997 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3698337 | Doi | 10.1084/jem.194.9.1385 |
| Citation | Cabaniols JP, et al. (2001) Most alpha/beta T cell receptor diversity is due to terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase. J Exp Med 194(9):1385-90 |
| abstractText | The contribution of template-independent nucleotide addition to antigen receptor diversity is unknown. We therefore determined the size of the T cell receptor (TCR)alpha/beta repertoire in mice bearing a null mutation on both alleles of the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (Tdt) gene. We used a method based upon polymerase chain reaction amplification and exhaustive sequencing of various AV-AJ and BV-BJ combinations. In both wild-type and Tdt degrees / degrees mice, TCRAV diversity is one order of magnitude lower than the TCRBV diversity. In Tdt degrees / degrees animals, TCRBV chain diversity is reduced 10-fold compared with wild-type mice. In addition, in Tdt degrees / degrees mice, one BV chain can associate with three to four AV chains as in wild-type mice. The alpha/beta repertoire size in Tdt degrees / degrees mice is estimated to be 10(5) distinct receptors, approximately 5-10% of that calculated for wild-type mice. Thus, while Tdt activity is not involved in the combinatorial diversity resulting from alpha/beta pairing, it contributes to at least 90% of TCRalpha/beta diversity. |
