HOMOGENEOUS ANTIGEN RECEPTOR BETA-CHAIN GENES IN CLONED CD4- CD8- ALPHA-BETA T-SUPPRESSOR CELLS

The rearrangements of beta-chain genes of the T cell Ag receptor were examined in 12 CD4- CD8- alphabeta+ T cell lines derived from the sple en or thymus of neonatal or adult BALB/c mice. Eleven of the lines wer e cloned and established from six independent cloning procedures from different mice. Five cloned lines used Vbeta9, four cloned lines used Vbeta15, and two cloned lines used Vbeta7. Nucleotide sequencing of th e beta-chain genes showed that clones that used a given Vbeta were ide ntically rearranged even when they were derived from independent cloni ng procedures. In the case of Vbeta7 and Vbeta15 all nucleotides in th e V-D-J joining region were in the germ line configuration without N r egion additions. Rearrangements of the Vbeta7, Vbeta9, and Vbeta15 gen es were functional. Each Vbeta15 clone also had a homogeneous rearrang ement of the Vbeta13 gene, which was nonfunctional. The predicted amin o acid sequence of the joining regions of the Vbeta7, Vbeta9, and Vbet a15 rearrangements showed homology in four of seven amino acids in the peptide contact region.