Restriction of endogenous T cell antigen receptor beta rearrangements to Vbeta14 through selective recombination signal sequence modifications.

ABSTRACT: T cell antigen receptor (TCR)beta V(D)J variable region exon assembly is ordered, with Dbeta to Jbeta rearrangements occurring before joining of Vbetas to a DJbeta complex. Germ-line V(D)J segments are flanked by recombination signal (RS) sequences, which consist of heptamers and nonamers separated by a spacer of 12 (12-RS) or 23 (23-RS) bp. V(D)J recombination is restricted by the 12/23 rule; joining occurs only between gene segments flanked by 12-RSs and 23-RSs. Vbeta segments have 23-RSs and Jbeta segments 12-RSs, which based on the 12/23 rule should allow direct joining. However, Vbeta segments rearrange only to DJbeta complexes and not Jbeta segments, because of restrictions beyond 12/23 (B12/23) that make the Vbeta23-RS incompatible with the Jbeta12-RS. To determine whether direct Vb

SUBMITTER: Wu C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1820698 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature