L. Mauvieux et al., T early alpha (TEA) regulates initial TCRVAJA rearrangements and leads to TCRJA coincidence, EUR J IMMUN, 31(7), 2001, pp. 2080-2086
Both TCRA, alleles are rearranged in mature T lymphocytes, as a result of a
lack of allelic exclusion at the TRCA locus. We show in a series of T cell
clones that the two TCRJA segments are not randomly, but rather coincident
ally, rearranged in a given T cell. The TCRJA coincidence relies, in part,
on the presence of "T early alpha" (TEA), a cis-regulatory genetic element
located upstream of the TCRJA cluster. TEA promotes specific recombinationa
l accessibility that targets: primary TCRVAJA rearrangements on the 5 ' sid
e of the TCRA locus. In a model of multiple waves of TCRVAJA recombination,
this cis-regulatory effect of TEA allows for the scanning of the entire TC
RJA cluster, thereby increasing the TCR alpha/beta diversity potential.