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Updated: Aug 7, 2026

Generating De Novo Antigen-specific Human T Cell Receptors by Retroviral Transduction of Centric Hemichain
Published on: October 25, 2016
A new mechanism for generating TCR diversity: A TCR Jalpha-like gene that inserts partial nucleotide sequences in a
Christopher L Reardon1, Ling-Jia Hu, Xiang Yin
1Department of Dermatology, Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center, 650 Indian School Road, Phoenix, AZ 85012-1892, USA. christopher.reardon@med.va.gov
Abstract:
delta-TCR genes of two gammadelta-T cell hybridomas were found to contain an identical 19-nt sequence in their non-germline N-regions. To determine if this sequence represented a third murine TCR Ddelta gene, genomic PCR was performed by using it as a primer together with primers for interspersed repetitive elements (IRE). Sequencing revealed that the 19-nt segment is part of a 61-nt gene with flanking 5' and 3' recombination signaling sequences (RSS). Southern blot analysis confirmed the presence of this 61-nt gene in the genome of several mouse strains. The gene is unusual in that the distal 24 nucleotides of its 3' RSS region are contributed by the 5' portion of a B2 IRE sequence that includes an apparently non-functional RNA splice site within the 3' nonamer sequence. It has sequence similarities with the Ddelta1 gene (81%) at its 5' end and with Jalpha genes (73%) overall. Tyramide-FISH analysis identified the gene to exist within or adjacent to the TCR alpha/delta locus on chromosome 14. Surveys of available TCR sequences reveal possible partial insertions of the 61-nt gene in other delta-TCR and in alpha-TCR gene sequences. Thus, the unique 61-nt gene is Jalpha gene-like in structure but D gene-like in function.
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