Lamprey <i>FOXN1</i> rescues the block of thymic epithelial cell development in the mouse <i>Foxn1</i>-deficient thymic rudiment.

ABSTRACT: All vertebrate adaptive immune systems exhibit distinct lymphocyte lineages. In jawless vertebrates, such as lampreys, T-like cells are thought to develop in lympho-epithelial structures at the tips of gill filaments, termed thymoids. However, it is unclear whether thymoids are functionally equivalent to the thymus of jawed vertebrates. Indeed, because the structural modules that are somatically assembled to form the antigen receptors of jawless and jawed vertebrates differ, development and selection of T cells may be governed by clade-specific genetic networks. To address this question, we have replaced the mouse Foxn1 gene, a key regulator of the thymic microenvironment in jawed vertebrates, with the orthologous FOXN1 lamprey gene, which is expressed in the thymoids alongsi

SUBMITTER: Morimoto R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12685072 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature