Sequence and organization of the human T cell delta chain gene

A novel human T cell receptor (TcR) gene, located 85 kbp upstream to the C alpha coding regions, was isolated using human genomic clones to identify cDNA homologous to messages encoded by this region. The deduced protein sequence of this gene is highly homologous to that of the newly identified constant region found in the murine TcR alpha chain locus. This gene undergoes rearrangements and is expressed at the RNA level in human thymocytes, peripheral T cells and several leukemic T cell lines which have been shown to express the surface gamma-delta heterodimer, suggesting that this gene encodes the human T cell delta chain.