Alleles of the rat T-cell receptor beta chain gene complex

Inbred rat strains provide a rich source of genetic diversity in immunologically relevant genes. We have characterized the alleles of one of these genes, encoding the rat T-cell receptor C beta 1 chain, by Southern blots and nucleic acid sequencing. The Cb1 gene segments from DA and LEW rats display complex allotypic variation: both coding and noncoding regions contain multiple nucleotide substitutions. In addition, there is a polymorphic insertion of a rat repetitive LINE element 3' to the coding region. The Cb1 alleles are one part of larger Tcrb haplotypes, containing V beta, D beta, and J beta elements; complete Cb1 genomic nucleotide sequences, and a partial list of the strain distribution of the two alleles, are described in this report.