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Transcripts of functionally rearranged gamma genes in primary T cells of adult immunocompetent mice

Abstract

The T-cell specific, rearranging γ-chain genes bear striking resemblance to T-cell receptor and immunoglobulin genes1,2, but the role of γ remains unknown. A central problem is to understand the conditions under which γ RNA is expressed in cells. The transcription of γ is abundant in T cells of fetal thymi3, but is negligible in peripheral T cells of adults, suggesting that γ is involved in development of the T-cell repertoire3. However, γ RNA was originally cloned from established lines of cytotoxic T cells (CTLs) derived from adult mice1,4 and this expression has been ascribed to non-physiological cell growth3. Possibly consistent with this, most of the γ RNA derives from genes rearranged abortively at the VγJγ junction of immunoglobulin genes, where V is the variable segment and J the joint segment (refs 5, 6; see ref. 7 for review). Here, we report the detailed analysis of γ transcription in T cells of adult mice, and find that transcription may occur in T cells with a broad range of surface phenotypes; that it is predominantly of a single VγCγ unit (where C is the constant region); and that in cells freshly explanted from animals it can be of productively rearranged genes.

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Jones, B., Mjolsness, S., Janeway, C. et al. Transcripts of functionally rearranged gamma genes in primary T cells of adult immunocompetent mice. Nature 323, 635–638 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1038/323635a0

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