THE CD3-GAMMA-DELTA-EPSILON AND CD3-ZETA ETA MODULES ARE EACH ESSENTIAL FOR ALLELIC EXCLUSION AT THE T-CELL RECEPTOR-BETA LOCUS BUT ARE BOTH DISPENSABLE FOR THE INITIATION OF V TO (D)J RECOMBINATION AT THE T-CELL RECEPTOR-BETA, RECEPTOR-GAMMA, AND RECEPTOR-DELTA LOCI/
L. Ardouin et al., THE CD3-GAMMA-DELTA-EPSILON AND CD3-ZETA ETA MODULES ARE EACH ESSENTIAL FOR ALLELIC EXCLUSION AT THE T-CELL RECEPTOR-BETA LOCUS BUT ARE BOTH DISPENSABLE FOR THE INITIATION OF V TO (D)J RECOMBINATION AT THE T-CELL RECEPTOR-BETA, RECEPTOR-GAMMA, AND RECEPTOR-DELTA LOCI/, The Journal of experimental medicine, 187(1), 1998, pp. 105-116
The pre-T cell receptor (TCR) associates with CD3-transducing subunits
and tri selective expansion and maturation of T cell precursors expre
ssing a TCR-beta chain. Recent experiments in pre-T alpha chain-defici
ent mice have suggested that the pre-TCR may not be required for signa
ling allelic exclusion at the TCR-beta locus. Using CD3-epsilon- and C
D3-zeta/eta-deficient mice harboring a productively rearranged TCR-bet
a transgene, we showed that the CD3-gamma delta epsilon and CD3-zeta/e
ta modules, and by inference the pre-TCR/CD3 complex, are each essenti
al for the establishment of allelic exclusion at the endogenous TCR-be
ta locus. Furthermore, using mutant mice lacking both the CD3-epsilon
and CD3-zeta/eta genes, we established that the CD3 gene products are
dispensable for the onset of V to (D)J recombination (V, variable, D,
diversity; J, joining) at the TCR-beta, TCR-gamma, and TCR-delta loci.
Thus, the CD3 components are differentially involved in the sequentia
l events that make the TCR-beta locus first accessible to, and later i
nsulated from, the action of the V(D)J recombinase.