Lack of directed Vα14‐Jα281 rearrangements in NK1+ T cells

NK1.1+ T cells are an unusual subset of TCRαβ cells distinguished by their highly restricted Vβ repertoire and predominant usage of an invariant Vα14‐Jα281 chain. To assess whether a directed rearrangement mechanism could be responsible for this invariant α chain, we have analyzed Vα14 rearrangements by polymerase chain reaction and Southern blot in a panel of cloned T‐T hybrids derived from thymic NK1.1+ T cells. As expected a high proportion (17/20) of the hybrids had rearranged Vα14 to Jα281. However, Vα14‐Jα281 rearrangements always occurred on only one chromosome and were accompanied by other Vα‐Ja rearrangements (not involving Vα14) on the homologous chromosome. These data argue that rigorous ligand selection rather than directed rearrangement is responsible for the high frequency of Vα14‐Jα281 rearrangements in NK1.1+ T cells.

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